DALLAS — For years, families have climbed the steps of Plaza Latina Bazaar in Dallas toward the American dream.
But Friday they awoke to a grim reality.
“I just got a call, ‘hey, get over there now,” said Isamar Silvestre. “’It’s burning.’”
The exotic animals were killed in a fire at a northwest Dallas shopping center, but no people were injured, officials said.
Officials had responded shortly after 9 a.m. to a two-alarm fire at the Plaza Latina shopping center, located at 11200 Harry Hines Boulevard.
Thankfully, neither Silvestre nor many of the nearly 200 vendors were inside Plaza Latina when a fire started around 9:30 Friday morning.
The only two people who were on-site made it out safely.
“If one person’s life would’ve been lost, that would’ve been devastating,” said building manager Al Bargas.
Unfortunately, Bargas said one of the building’s vendors sold exotic pets. And according to the building’s owner, upwards of 300 animals, mostly birds, died. At least a dozen others were rescued and treated in the parking lot.
Officials don’t yet know what caused the fire, but thanks to an upgraded sprinkler system and quick response by Dallas Fire Rescue, aside from a collapsed roof, the building can be saved.
However, vendors say they’ve lost everything, especially their main source of income.
“It’s just going to affect everything,” Silvestre said.
“When firefighters arrived at the large one-story commercial occupancy, they were met with heavy smoke and fire conditions,” Dallas Fire-Rescue said. “Recognizing that suppression efforts would be defensive early on, a second-alarm response was immediately requested; which resulted in approximately 40-45 firefighters on scene to mitigate the situation, using hand lines and three ladder pipes to surround and drown the fire from all sides.”
The building housed multiple small businesses, one of which sold exotic animals, a “number of which died” during the fire, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue. Dallas Animal Control was also called to help respond to the fire.
Silvestre says her mom spent 25 years getting their candy and pinata store, Dulceria Gloria, to the point where it was thriving.
It was so successful Silvestre just quit her full-time job to help expand.
“And help my mom retire eventually,” she said.
Like every business owner here, she’s committed to rebuilding because although they’ve lost plenty, they’ve got the one thing needed to bounce back.
“We’re still alive,” Silvestre said. “We’re here and all we can do is help each other.”
A Facebook page for Plaza Latina indicates it’s usually open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Thursday and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday.
The fire was declared extinguished about two hours after it started at 11:03 a.m., and the cause of the fire is under investigation, according to Dallas Fire-Rescue.