Crime & Safety
Fire Destroys Nashua Strip Mall And Forces Businesses To Close
Contractors worked to secure the building while people stopped to view the devastation. Lanna's Asian Market and Ciao's Pizza are closed.
NASHUA, NH — Construction crews were at the scene of Friday night's fire that gutted a strip mall at 495 Amherst St.
When firefighters arrived Friday, they saw flames shooting through the roof of the multi-store strip mall and people self-evacuating from two businesses that were open at the time. People from Lanna Asian Food Market and Ciao’s escaped without injuries — but watched as the building was consumed by intense fire.
Nashua Firefighters immediately called for a second alarm when they saw the quickly deteriorating conditions and were challenged getting apparatus through the gridlocked traffic on Amherst Street. The fire from the building began burning nearby power lines creating a very dangerous situation as the live power lines began to drop burning insulation on crews working and hitting a fire engine. The fire from the power lines dropped burning debris that burned through hose lines, creating temporary water supply issues.
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Lanna Asian Market has been in business since 2004 and moved to the Amherst Street location in 2010. The
They are known for being a very clean place, large selection, and well organized according to customers. On Lanna's website, they say, "We are not just an Asian Market, we provide customers with knowledge and educate our customers on how to utilize the ingredients.”
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On Ciao’s website, they say Ciao's Pizza & Subs remains one of the most popular in Nashua. A worker who was inside the store on Friday was told by a co-worker there was the smell of something burning. A short time later, they realized there was heavy fire in the strip mall.
On Saturday morning, a construction crew was boarding up windows and securing the building that was heavily damaged. A car that was in front of the strip mall at the time of the fire was being removed by a tow company and had visible damage.
Several items have floated into the parking lot due to heavy water flow being put on the building from ladder trucks set up above the building.
An aerial view of the building showed large portions of the roof collapsed and burnt remains inside the Lanna Asian store.
The fire remains under investigation by the Nashua Fire Marshal’s Office, and at this time, the cause and origin have not been released.
©Jeffrey Hastings www.frameofmindphoto.com/news.
