Simsbury

Building with several businesses inside catches on fire in Simsbury

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Crews are still working to get a fire at a commercial building in Simsbury under control hours after it broke out on Saturday evening.

Old Hopmeadow Center, located on 730 Hopmeadow Street, caught on fire around 9:30 p.m. and has several different businesses inside.

Since the fire broke out, firefighters have been dealing with massive flames and smoke.

At this point, the building is being torn down. A portion of the building is already gone.

The fire chief said he believes there were about 11 different businesses in the building.

"I feel bad, you know. The holidays are coming. I have a family to take care of. Stuff like that. It's just a bad day. It's just a bad time," said Duong Pham.

Pham and his brother ran 'Sarah's Nail Studio' together for five years inside Old Hopmeadow Center, and he says this is their busiest time of the year.

"I was here late last night with my family, checking out the fire. Come back this morning, it's really...it's devastating. It's terrible," said Matthew Chmilewski.

Chmilewski has to find another place to go as well. He worked out of this building for more than a decade with his tutoring business, "MC Tutoring," which served students of all ages.

Simsbury Fire Chief Todd Myers says putting out the fire was a challenge.

"Each business is like its own separate entity, with its own entry way, stairwell things like that. It made it very difficult to get a hold of the fire and finally put it out," he said.

He says crews from surrounding towns were called in and spent they spent a lot of time putting out hotspots, which were hard to get to and flared up again Sunday morning. 

But Myers says he's thankful for all the firefighters who tackled the blaze and is grateful nobody got hurt.

"We're very thankful for our neighboring towns who helped out," said Myers.

Jim Gallagher Way is currently closed. There is no estimate for the duration of the closure. 

It's unclear what started the fire. The cause is under investigation.

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