Early Wednesday morning, a significant blaze engulfed an Anaheim strip mall, damaging multiple businesses and challenging firefighting crews who responded to the scene. The fire, originally reported shortly after 5:20 a.m. at 1210 South State College Boulevard, quickly evolved into a dangerous conflagration with Anaheim firefighters dispatching several ladder trucks in an attempt to control the flames which were being doused from multiple vantage points, as reported by KTLA. Bystanders captured video evidence of firefighters battling the fire, which is believed to have originated in the Sahara Theatre, an adult entertainment club within the plaza.

As crews continued their efforts to extinguish the fire, businesses housed in the plaza, including a Subway restaurant, Taqueria El Poblano, and a kitchen and bath supply store, were destroyed by the blaze, which had initially been contained before it caught fire again, as aperNBC Los Angeles. In the early hours when they were closed for business, no injuries were reported among the strip mall businesses.

Complicating the firefighting operations, the building caught fire again before 6 a.m., prompting another vigorous response from the Anaheim Fire Department, as detailed by CBS News Los Angeles. The fire's resurgence led to bright red flames and large clouds of smoke billowing from the structure, turning the scene into a display of the fire's destructive power. Approximately 20 minutes after the flare-up, flames became less visible, yet the smoke persisted.