Westminster Fire Guts 2 Businesses, Damages 2

An early-morning fire ripped through a Westminster strip mall Sunday, gutting two businesses and damaging two more.

The firefighters, who had to contend with hot, dripping tar and falling debris, contained the damage to four stores, said Dennis Shell, a spokesman for the Orange County Fire Authority. The blaze did an estimated $750,000 in damage to the West Grove Plaza mall, near the corner of Magnolia Street and Westminster Avenue, he said.

Destroyed in the 5:16 a.m. fire were the Aikido Marshal Arts Academy and the Dog Hung Vien bakery. In addition, Shell said, about a third of the Kim Anh Academy of Beauty was destroyed, and the Simply Coin Laundry sustained smoke damage and broken windows.

The strip mall is home to 21 businesses, including a Stater Bros. grocery store. No injuries were reported, though one firefighter had a close call:

“Fire Capt. Rocco DiFransco went into the bakery with his company and was met by heavy conditions,” Shell said. “Rocco was hit by falling debris that broke his facemask--it’s unbelievable that he wasn’t severely injured.”

Instead, Shell said, DiFransco stayed in with his crew and continued to fight the fire. All of the firefighters “were covered with burning tar that was coming off the roof.”

The fire left tenants and customers of the mall severely shaken.

“I’ve been to that bakery,” said Richard Wan, 39, standing behind yellow police tape with a crowd of onlookers. “On the weekends a lot of people come here. It’s very upsetting.”

Cindy Pham, 41, owns the Showtime video store, which didn’t burn. But the store was close enough to the fire to be forced to close at least for a day.

“It’s scary,” she said. And “the weekend is when we have the most customers.”

Pham said she had remodeled the store less than two months ago and was concerned about possible water damage from dousing the fire.

“It’s a mess in there,” she said. “I just want to go in to see what happened.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Shell said.