Fire destroys beachside shop

DAYTONA BEACH SHORES -- A raging inferno burned a South Atlantic Avenue T-shirt shop to the ground Tuesday night -- making it the third beachside gift shop to go up in smoke in the past three months.

Knee-high flames were seen coming from a hole in the corner of the front window of the Hurricane Beach and Sportswear shop, 2142 S. Atlantic Ave., about 6:30 p.m. when a family visiting from Kentucky called 9-1-1.

"We were driving past it and by the time we turned around at Congo River, it was totally in flames," said one of the visitors, a woman who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.

"It looks like somebody threw something in," her brother said.

Though the building was completely destroyed, no one was injured, Daytona Beach Shores Department of Public Safety Director Stephan Dembinsky said. People in the area were cleared away because of heavy smoke, but no other buildings were threatened, in part because the gift shop was housed in a free-standing building, he said.

The flames were so hot the heat could be felt from the seventh floor balcony of the El Caribe located across the street, St. Louis area visitor Sherril Gebhardt said.

"Since no one was hurt, it's kind of neat for my kids to be able to see them work the fire," she said. "My husband's a firefighter.'

Smoke could be seen from blocks away.

Brent Harpster, who lives at the nearby Ocean Villas condominiums, was about to walk out the door to shop at the Winn-Dixie just south of fire when he saw the smoke billowing up.

"I remember in the '80s it was either a Burger King or McDonalds, and in the early '90s it was an all-you-can-eat Chinese diner," he said. "I don't know. It's pretty weird that this is the third T-shirt shop to go in a couple of months."

A tourist who asked not to be named also thought the fire was "weird."

"We went yesterday to get (my son) swim trunks, but the place was all locked up," he said. "The neon 'open' lights were on, but the doors were locked at 3 or 4. We had to go up the street. But today they had the side door open and were moving boxes into a truck. We were joking about it."

It's unclear who owns the property -- there is no entry on the Volusia County Property Appraiser's Web site for the address provided by officials. The state's Division of Corporations also has no listing for either Hurricane Beach and Sportswear or Hurricane Surfwear -- as the business is called in an online advertisement that says its open seven days from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and specializes in T-shirts, swimsuits, cigarette rolling papers, hookahs and cigars.

Investigators from the State Fire Marshal's Office are investigating, Dembinsky said.

The cause of the Labor Day fire that destroyed the Maui Style and Total Fashion shops at the 400 block of N. Atlantic Ave. in Daytona Beach has yet to be determined.

Lt. Greg Kunkle of the State Fire Marshal's Office said last month that investigators are taking a step back to re-evaluate a so-called eyewitness' account that flames raced through the stores after someone flung an object through a front window -- which investigators had not confirmed.

julie.murphy@news-jrnl.com

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