Massive fire leaves Cape Coral business in shambles

Fire marshals are investigating the rubble of a business after a massive fire tore through it in Cape Coral.

For hours, huge plumes of black smoke clouded the sky. The arson investigation team was on the scene Monday night and returned Tuesday morning.

This happened near Southwest Second Terrace and Third Ave.

A spokesperson for the Cape Coral Fire Department said no one was hurt or inside the building when the fire broke out, around 5 p.m. when neighbors said they heard explosions.

“We just heard like a huge boom,” said Marie Baptiste, who lives across the street. “At first we thought it was like a car accident because a bunch of cars started to pull up back here, so we got out to see if it was a car accident, and we when we looked over there, the whole entire sky was like, filled with black smoke, and the building was like, engulfed in flames.”

The fire was contained by the early evening, but crews were seen pouring water on the flames for hours.

The fire was so aggressive that crews had to call for backup.

“There was a lot of roofing material outside, which was where most of the engulfment was, so that’s where we were pretty much fighting the fire,” said Jason Orellana, community risk reduction specialist at the Cape Coral Fire Department.

Employees said the building belonged to A+ Roofing, and the fire spread to a church next door.

Fortunately, no one in either building was hurt.

“Our understanding is that no one was in the building,” Orellana said.