By Georgina Brennan

Four stores on McLean Avenue in Yonkers were destroyed in a three alarm fire on Sunday afternoon. There was extensive property damage but no one was hurt in the blaze which investigators say may have started from a heater in one of the stores. 

Among the stores destroyed was the popular Irish sports store 939 Sports. The fire was contained within an hour, and the danger that the fire would spread to a gas station was averted.

At 1:03 p.m. the Yonkers fire department was called to the corner of McLean Avenue and Kimball. “We had about 65 firefighters. It was a difficult fire because all the businesses had tin ceilings that had to be ripped up,” Fire Chief William Fitzpatrick told the Irish Voice at the scene. “It was a fast moving fire but it was contained by 2:10 p.m.”

The owner of the nearby gas station, Sunoco on Kimball Avenue, watched in horror as customers doing some pre-Christmas shopping and having lunch in the street cafes started to evacuate. Harpal Arora told the Irish Voice he was afraid his business was going up in flames. 

“I was nervous. I was wondering if anything would happen here because it is a gas station and the fire could be very dangerous,” he said. But luckily the fire department arrived before certain disaster struck. 

Other business owners were not so lucky. Salon Mr. O and 939 Sports are completely destroyed, while smoke damage ensures that Expressions Flower Shop and the Carvel ice cream store will not be open for the busy holiday season.

Fitzpatrick believes that the flames began in the rear of the beauty shop and spread quickly. “The fire spread through the cockloft, or the space between the roof and the ceiling, of the four commercial spaces located from 937 to 941 McLean Avenue,” he said.

Hairstylist Jackie O’Shaughnessy was on the street, having evacuated the salon when the fire started. “It was coming from everywhere. I just ran,” she said.

Mary Bellizi and her husband Mike have had their flower store on the strip for five years. Mary said she just can’t believe it. “We are just devastated. This is the busiest time of the year for us. I don’t know what we are going to do,” she said.

John Williamson from Mayo said he was thinking about buying a jersey for his girlfriend that day at 939 Sports and had been on his way to look at the shop display when the fire broke out. 

“I just can’t believe it. I was going to get my girlfriend a Mayo football jersey and this is the only place in New York to get it. Well, it was anyway,” he told the Irish Voice.