A fire that tore through a Hialeah supermarket on Sunday night left the store in ruins, with crews battling the blaze into the early hours. The scene at Nacional Supermarket, located at 5400 Palm Ave, was still one of devastation come Monday morning, as the daylight revealed a nearly annihilated roof and a gutted interior.
Firefighters were called to the scene at around 8 p.m. Sunday. According to Local 10, they found the supermarket closed, thankfully void of customers or staff, which allowed them to focus their efforts on extinguishing the flames without concern for rescues. Despite the store's state, nobody was reported injured.
As the embers cooled and the smoke cleared, the severity of the situation became apparent. "There is a lot of damage inside," Angel Leon, a worker from a nearby store in the shopping plaza, told WSVN in a statement, detailing the extent of the ruin he witnessed firsthand. Windows, the roof, walls—along with all the goods inside—have been significantly damaged or destroyed.
The cause of the inferno is still under investigation. The dense smoke was so challenging that firefighters had quickly to call for backup, requesting a second-alarma crew to help contain and eventually quell the fire. Other storefronts in the vicinity also sustained damage from the smoke, tallying up to thousands in losses.
While the physical damage to property is calculable, the fire's impact on the local community, employees, and the store owners remains yet a lingering question. Meanwhile, cleanup crews hustle to clear debris and salvage what remains of the charred supermarket as the investigation into the cause of the flame continues.
