Several businesses on St. Clair St. that were devastated by a fire in Chatham over the weekend are down, but not out.
Sacwal Flooring, Ideal Decorating, and the Lighting and Accent Gallery were all completely destroyed by a blaze that started sometime late Saturday night.
Police got a call from a passerby notifying them of the fire just after 12am Sunday.
Monica Massa, the interior decorator at Ideal Decorating, says she heard the news shortly after that.
"When I first found out, it was about 12:30am [Sunday]," says Massa. "I had a family member calling us and letting us know what was happening -- we went over first thing in the morning and couldn't believe what we had seen, it was total destruction."
The fire quickly destroyed the three businesses -- burning through furniture, inventory, and customer files.
The scene after a fire at a business plaza on St. Clair St. in Chatham. January 17, 2017. (Photo by Paul Pedro)
But despite the buildings being completely gutted, Massa says Ideal Decorating is still finding a way to work through it.
"Thankfully a lot of our business is getting out to clients, so we can still move forward and help out clients while we're rebuilding and everything," says Massa. "We got our phone number put right to our cell phone, so we're able to get everybody wherever we are."
Since the fire broke out over the weekend, the community has also been rallying to support the businesses who were affected by the fire.
Massa says officials with Caldwell Brand Source on St. Clair St. have offered to let the displaced businesses work out of its building while staff attempt to find a temporary location to work out of while they rebuild.
"Just text messages and emails and phone calls from the community are streaming in," says Massa. "It's been phenomenal, everyone is reaching out to us."
Massa isn't sure how long it will take to rebuild the plaza, but estimates it could take anywhere from six to 12 months.
"We're all still working," says Massa. "We're all still going to be able to help everybody, it's just going to take a little bit of time."