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Oct 6, 2008 4:48 pm US/Eastern
Popular Davie Thrift Store Goes Up In Flames
DAVIE (CBS4) ―
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Firefighters from Davie, Cooper City and Broward County were called to put out a massive fire at a thrift store.
CBS
Fire investigators are trying to figure out what caused a massive building fire at a Davie late Sunday evening.
Fire rescue teams from Davie, Hollywood and the county helped put out the walls of flame in the old Osbourne Hardware building, at the corner of Orange Drive and Davie Road which had been turned into a thrift store.
Customers told
CBS4's Shomari Stone that Danny Johnson and his mother had only owned the store for about a year and a half.
"He's heartbroken and just not sure what to do right now," said thrift store regular Tammie Kadlez.
Witnesses told police the fire broke out between 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. At its peak, they said they saw flames shoot through the building's roof more than 40 feet into the air.
When Davie fire crews arrived they first tried to attack the flames from inside the 6,000-square-foot building, but found it nearly impossible. Davie fire officials were also concerned because in addition to clothes and furniture, initial reports they received indicated there was the possibility that there may also be propane tanks in the building.
Firefighters eventually evacuated the building and fought blaze from the outside using 4 aerial trucks, which soaked the building from above, and ground crews with high pressured hoses. With their combined efforts, it took 5 hours to bring the fire under control. The building is a total loss.
"We were proud of it. They had left some things inside that we left as is. People that have written their name so on the walls that have worked there before," Danny Johnson said.
"We all come here, you know everybody comes here," said Kadlez who is sad to see the shop destroyed. "I was telling somebody earlier that this is the kind of place when you make your shopping list, you're gonna stop here before you go to Publix because you know you are going to save money when you can get it here."
Photos from the Davie Historical Museum showed the building was opened in the 1940's by Cindy Osbourne and her husband. The Osbourne's converted the building into a hardware stores in the 1950's.
"Charles and Cindy Osbourne came to Davie in 1948 and started their business as an auto repair business and then it evolved," said Davie Historical Museum director Patti Koch.
The Osboune family said the fire was a devastating loss. "All of my sisters and I were raised in that store and our home is on the same property," Cindy Osbourne's daughter Janice said.
No one was inside the store at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported. The Osbourne's do have insurance and plan on selling the property.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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