United States (Virginia) - What started as a porch fire Saturday afternoon quickly escalated into large blaze that incinerated several Forest businesses, but injured no one, Bedford County fire officials said. The blaze took out the entire Jefferson Business Center on U.S. 221, billowing black smoke over the road for more than an hour and leaving just a skeleton of the businesses that just hours earlier were serving customers.

Crews shut down all lanes of U.S. 221 between Graves Mill Road and Cottontown Road for most of the evening. They remained closed past 10:30 p.m., Forest Fire Department Chief Todd Styles said.

Styles said the blaze, which began on the back porch of one of the businesses, was reported to dispatchers at 5:55 p.m.

Crews arrived at the scene just seven minutes after the call, Styles said, but were unable to do anything to save any of the businesses.

The center housed a Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance location, Scene 3 skate shop, California Nails salon, Blackwater Bike Shop, a Healthy Inspirations fitness

center and a tattoo parlor.

Many whose lives will be affected by Saturday's blaze, were there to witness it.

Julie Pham, whose family owns the California Nails salon, said she was in her building working with a customer when the fire started.

"My husband ... thought he saw smoke, and then he smelled something funny," she said.

"He said 'be ready, we may have to leave.'"

Pham said she didn't initially think anything was going to happen, so she went back to work.

But when the fire hit their building, she, her daughter and husband, as well as the two customers inside, got out as quickly as they could.

Not two minutes after they got out of the building, she said, the flames had reached the roof.

"I just can't believe something could go up that fast," she said.

Styles said it's not surprising that all of the businesses burned down once the fire had a chance to get going.

"The way these office buildings are, if it gets into the roof system ... it's very hard to stop, because it's going to go from one end of the building to the other," Styles said.

Jeff Gray, who operates Scene 3, said the skate shop was his family's only source of income.

"I was the sole breadwinner," he said.

His wife, Sarah, stays at home with their two children, 10-month-old Lily and 3-year-old Lance.

Gray was just getting ready for lunch when he heard about the blaze.

"Someone called me and said 'your shop's on fire,'" Gray said.

For Gray, the situation is more devastating because he didn't have insurance on his merchandise, and was just about ready to move to a new location on Kemper Street.

That location, he said, was supposed to be ready about a week ago, but they were in the process of putting the finishing touches on it.

"Luckily, I wasn't ordering a lot of product, as we were moving," he said.

"We have a new location, just nothing for it," Sarah Gray said.

Gray estimated his loss at about $20,000, and said he didn't know what it would take to get back in business.

"Maybe do a fundraiser," he said. "A big one."

Crews remained late into the night, working to ensure there would be no flare-ups in the smoldering building.

Firefighters had closed that potion of U.S. 221 because they needed to use hydrants on different water mains, so as not to steal water pressure from each other.

Units from the Forest Fire Department, Brookville-Timberlake Volunteer Fire Company, Bedford Fire Department, Boonsboro Volunteer Fire Company, Goode Rescue Squad and the Campbell County Rescue Squad responded.

Styles estimated the fire personnel on the scene between 50 and 60 people.

Pham said despite the damage, she's grateful that the fire didn't take any human lives.

"I don't know where I'm working on Monday," she said, "but luckily I'm okay, and nobody got hurt, so that's the main thing."

Written by The News and Advance