A six-alarm fire broke out in an historic strip shopping center in a Dallas entertainment district on Wednesday.
The blaze at Greenville and Prospect avenues broke out at about 4 p.m., shooting flames and black smoke into the sky.
Fire damaged the historic Arcadia Theater, Nuevo Leon, Cafe Nostra, Syn Bar and Condom Sense. Other businesses also might have been damaged.
At least 125 firefighters using at least six fire trucks worked to battle the blaze.
Fire officials said the fire broke out inside Nuevo Leon restaurant and quickly spread to businesses connected to it.
An employee of the restaurant said the fire took him by surprise.
"I was just doing my normal duties and then I smelled fire, I smelled smoke," he said. "It was all on fire, and so we had to run out."
Fire department spokeswoman Annette Ponce said the fire was contained by 6 p.m., and that the flames caused widespread damage.
"We're going to have smoke and fire damage throughout the entire building, so there's going to be a traumatic loss right now to this, in this situation," Ponce said.
"I got embers on my roof. I'm just lucky I got out here when I did, I guess," said John Gasperik of Shake Rag Music Store.
Ponce said the situation was too dangerous to allow firefighters into the structure, especially because portions of the roof were collapsing. Fire officials said there did not appear to be any instability to the outside walls, NBC 5 reported.
At one point, electrical transformers on a utility poll near the building sparked and smoked.
Ponce said there were no injuries to firefighters or civilians.
The Salvation Army was at the scene to provide firefighters with refreshments.
Business owners said they are trying to figure out what to do next.
"It's just unfortunate. We worked to bring this business up the last two years, and so we've got to start from scratch again," said Erol Staraveci of Syn Bar.
Neighbors said they did not completely escape the fire's wrath. A backyard shed caught fire, but it was extinguished before the flames could spread.
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