Atlanta

Customers in shock after fire rips through shopping center

By Audrey Washington, WSB-TV
By Audrey Washington, WSB-TV

ATLANTA — Some customers are in shock today after they drove up and found a local neighborhood dry cleaner charred and gutted.

Atlanta fire officials said a dryer at the Ansley II Dry Cleaner got too hot and caught fire Monday afternoon, causing the cleaners and two other businesses to burn along Monroe Drive in Ansley Park.

The two other businesses include the American Haircuts Barber Shop and The Crème de la Crème nail salon.

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Several customers at the dry cleaners told Channel 2's Audrey Washington they just can't believe their items are destroyed.

Paula Gould gave a nervous laugh after she realized her husband's expensive business shirts that she just dropped off at the Ansley II Cleaners on Monday are now gone.

"I brought his things here yesterday and, oh my goodness, all his clothes are burned," Gould said. "About eight shirts, 10 shirts yesterday."

Cell phone video from an employee at The Crème de la Crème nail shop shows how the smoke poured from the dry cleaners. The flames then crept over to the barbershop next door.

"Got worse and worse," said Jenny Lee, an employee at the nail shop.

Greg Martin, the owner of American Haircuts Barber Shop, said all eight of his employees were inside at the time and barely escaped the flames.

"They literally had to run out the door," Martin said.

Everyone made it out OK. One firefighter suffered a minor burn.

After the fire, a fence is now around the badly burned businesses and more than a dozen workers are out of a job.

On Tuesday, a group of firefighters were back at the scene of the fire to check things out.

Gould says her heart goes out to everyone affected, especially the couple who owned the cleaners.

"But more so than the clothes, the people who own this," she said. "I feel really badly for them, I really do."

Cox Media Group

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