JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Hundreds of vendors waited outside the Pecan Park Flea Market Tuesday as the state fire marshal, the general manager, and city code enforcement walked inside for a closed door meeting.
The vendors were anxious for any news about their belongings survived a massive fire that ripped through the facility Monday night.
Jacksonville Fire Rescue, the fire marshal, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it appeared the first started in the cafeteria, but still not sure what caused the fire. They planned to return to Wednesday to continue to investigate.
Tuesday afternoon, general manager John Heidecker came outside the police perimeter and addressed the vendors:
"You can wait around, but it's a waste of time," Heidecker said. "B row from that firewall down is a complete loss."
A photo shows B row -- the middle of the structure, was destroyed, with the ceiling collapsed and nothing but rubble remaining of the booths inside.
It took about 100 Jacksonville firefighters, 15 engines and six ladder trucks about two hours to get the raging fire under control. The flames -- some said 300 feet tall -- could be seen from Interstate 95, where motorists calling 911 sent first word of the fire.
The state fire marshal was investigating the cause of the fire.
IMAGES: Fire rages at flea market
The 30-year-old flea market is home to about 750 storefronts that sell clothes, food, and antiques -- just about anything you can think of.
Some vendors said they had between $10,000 and $20,000 worth of merchandise in their booths. Some of the vendors are retirees who had invested their future in the businesses, and most had no insurance.
As smoke still rose from the hot spots, vendors could only look on, some knowing they have probably lost everything.
Sammy McCormick said the collectible cars in his booth on Row B Row -- some from the 1960s -- are probably now gone. He said this was the first business he started, and he just wished he could get in to see the damage.
"Maybe there is something that can be saved," McCormick said. "Probably not, but it would be better if we could actually see for ourselves the damage."
Charles Johnson and other booth owners said insurance is expensive, so most don't have it. That makes losing their merchandise even harder.
"My booths, if they're in the fire or not, I don't know right now," said Johnson.
Danny Farmer, another booth owner says he hates that this happened and that a lot of his friends have been at the market for years and years, but he just thankful for the efforts firefighters are making to save what they can.
"I would rather them be alive and my place be burned. They're trained to do what they do and they're gonna do their best," Farmer said. "Hopefully for the best outcome."
The fire marshal was still investigation what started the fire, but witnesses on scene described the scene as "incredible."
"The first arriving crew from Engine 16 was immediately confronted by a massive fire in the center row area here at the flea market," said JFRD spokesman, Tom Francis. "There are three distinct rows of stalls located here. Each particular row for simplicity sake containing about 120 odd businesses in those stalls. But the crew again who arrived here at the scene was confronted here by a massive fire that was 300 foot in length. Flames and smoke everywhere."
While there was shock and frustrations among the vendors, no one questioned that the firefighters did everything they could to minimize the damage.
"I snuck in last night, kind of watched," said Kim Delaney, of Petals Floral Cafe. "I have to say the firemen were amazing. They were really trying to save everybody's stuff as much as they could."
This is not the first time that a fire has destroyed the flea market. On Sept. 25, 2006, 200 stores were damaged when another blaze ripped through the Northside flea market.
Management said the flea market would open on its regular hours on Saturday and any vendor that was burned out would be given space on the lawn outdoors to use.