JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Most of the 750 vendors at the Pecan Park Flea Market are waiting outside for word whether any of their belongings survived a massive fire that ripped through the Pecan Park Flea Market Monday night.
One vendor who managed to get inside the police parameter Tuesday morning said the middle of three buildings was destroyed, with the ceiling collapsed and nothing but rubble remained of the booths that were inside.
It took about 100 Jacksonville firefighters, 15 engines and six ladder trucks about 2 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
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.
"My booths, if they're in the fire or not, I don't know right now," said Charles Johnson.
Johnson and other booth owners say insurance is expensive, so most don't have it. That makes losing their merchandise even harder.
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."
Jacksonville Fire-Rescue does not yet know exactly what started the fire, but witnesses on scene describe 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."
Due to the blaze the 700 block of Pecan Park Road to Interstate 95 was completely closed through 1 a.m.
If there was good news, it was that there were no injuries.
"I'm sort of devastated until I find out the outcome of what's going, where exactly the fire is. My booth is in the center there and I got a lot to lose," Charles Johnson, owner of several booths in the flea market, said. "I'm just praying there was nobody in there period. There shouldn't have been nobody in there."
News4Jax was told there would be a meeting with vendors at 10 a.m. Tuesday, but as of noon, it had not happened.
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.