‘Just devastating’: Popular Northside seafood restaurant heavily damaged in fire

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A beloved family-owned seafood edifice connected Jacksonville’s Northside sustained large harm Thursday greeting successful a fire.

Seham Kassees-Salazar’s member and lad co-own Junior’s Seafood and Grill connected North Main Street, conscionable northbound of Zoo Parkway. Her member besides owns Junior’s Famous Sandwiches successful the aforesaid one-story building.

The doors person been open, serving the assemblage for much than 45 years.

Both businesses sustained terrible harm Thursday successful a occurrence that took astir 65 Jacksonville Fire and Rescue unit astir 50 minutes to get nether control.

“It’s conscionable devastating to spot this,” Kassees-Salazar said. “It is conscionable heartbreaking due to the fact that everybody comes here. Everybody loves it. Anybody who you spell and speech to, they brag astir Junior’s.”

No 1 was wrong astatine the clip of the occurrence and nary firefighters were injured battling the blaze, JFRD spokesperson Capt. Eric Prosswimmer said.

He said firefighters arrived astatine Junior’s wrong 2 minutes of being dispatched aft the telephone came successful astatine 7:20 a.m.

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Smoke was coming from the gathering erstwhile they arrived, and the occurrence appeared to beryllium coming from the attic space, though it’s unclear if the occurrence started there. A spectator shared a photograph showing heavy fume billowing from the building.

Prosswimmer explained that crews had to propulsion retired astatine 1 constituent and telephone for back-up due to the fact that determination were information concerns and the occurrence wasn’t casual to handle.

“I’m bittersweet to accidental the businesses volition beryllium closed for a while. There’s beauteous important harm to the full structure,” Prosswimmer said. “We’re trying to marque definite we prevention this concern and prevention what we tin for these owners. There are radical that their livelihood depends connected this and determination are pugnacious times close now. So our interest is taking attraction of their property.”

Kassees-Salazar asked for prayers.

“We could usage a batch of prayers. As overmuch arsenic my sons person helped the assemblage and everybody, let’s anticipation and commune they volition propulsion unneurotic for them arsenic well,” she said.

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Prosswimmer said the State Fire Marshal has been called to analyse the origin of the fire. They volition find however overmuch repairs volition outgo arsenic the owners fig retired if they tin salvage the gathering and re-open the restaurants.

In the meantime, firefighters worked Thursday greeting to incorporate immoderate blistery spots.

“They’re going to meticulously look for hidden areas of fire. Because it’s successful an attic abstraction you person a batch of crevices, you person a batch of hidden stuff, you person chases. We’ve got to interest astir that,” Prosswimmer said. “The past happening we privation is to travel backmost present aboriginal to it burning again.”

Between h2o and fume and heat, there’s a batch of harm to the building, helium said.

“We benignant of teardrop things isolated to exposure the occurrence wherever it hides, and successful doing specified it looks similar we destruct the place, but it saves it successful the agelong run,” helium explained.

Main Street North reopened astatine 9:30 a.m. aft being closed portion crews were connected the scene.

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