Business owners recover after fire forces them out

Six businesses are closed Friday after Thursday’s massive fire at a vacant grocery store in Indio.

Thick black smoke filled the air, as flames engulfed the building.

Certainly this was not the scene Luis Frias expected when he arrived at work Thursday.

“I was going into my office and I was with my wife and I said ‘you know what? I smell something burning,” Frias said.

That burning smell eventually turned into a three-alarm structure fire.

Now Frias’ real estate business is closed along with five others along a shopping center which share a wall with a grocery store.

Earlier on, business owners from many of the stores stopped by, unsure of what to do next.

Many business owners said they feel stuck in limbo because they don’t know when they can get back in their businesses.

Even when they try to get some answers business owners said they keep getting the runaround from the city of Indio.

“I spoke with the city, I called them and they told me I needed to speak with the fire department, which I did but they sent me back with the city,” Frias said.

“I haven’t heard anything from the landlord or anybody what happened with the wall. If they’re going to tear down or rebuild we don’t have any information right now,” 99 Cent Store owner Lien Huynh said.

We reached out to Wessman Development Company that owns the building and it’s not commenting at this time.

The city of Indio couldn’t tell us what it’s doing to help these business owners.

“It is frustrating and it was sad too you know? Because we can’t open our business and we lose a lot of customers,” Huynh said.

For Frias he said the likelihood of him re-opening appears slim.

“I’m starting to look for a new place because it is less likely that we’re gonna re-open. Even if the engineer says it’s OK, I doubt the owner will continue with the same business,” Frias said.