CAPE CORAL, Fla. — Smoke filled the sky in Cape Coral Monday afternoon after a local business caught fire on SW Third Avenue.
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WILD VIDEO: Fire destroys building in Cape Coral (fox4now.com)
One woman says it wasn't just what she saw but the sounds that brought her out of her home, and it attracted nearby drivers to see the flames themselves.
"We were just sitting in the back patio and it was like a huge boom sound that came from outside," said Maria Baptiste, who lives on SW Third Avenue. "We thought it was a car accident because a few cars started piling up over here, but then when we came outside we noticed that the entire building like the whole backside of it was on fire."
Fox 4's Bella Line took this photo while crossing over the Caloosahatchee Bridge around 5 PM Monday.
The Cape Coral Fire Chief said they received the call around 5 PM and it took hours to put out.
"From my knowledge, it's a roofing company which compounded the problem," said Mike Russell, Cape Coral Fire Chief. "There's a lot of combustibles, petroleums and things like that. Like tar and tar paper, which obviously is a heavy fire load, which required heavy fire fighter tactics and a lot of water."
Russell said this made it extremely difficult to put the fire out and during this situation, we know time is of the essence.
"A lot of unknowns right now," said Russell. "All the information we had at the time was that the whole outside of the building if you will, was on fire."
Fox 4 crews asked Russell what the point of origin was or what caused the fire, but the investigation is ongoing so he could not provide an answer for now.
Fox 4 will keep you up to date on what caused the fire and the damage left from it.
