The three-alarm fire in Springfield Gardens began on Saturday at 4:04 p.m., consuming a 99-cent store at 138-10 Farmers Blvd. and two adjacent businesses — a check cashing establishment and a car service office. It was brought under control at 6:55 p.m. after nearly three hours. A spokesman for the FDNY said the fire is not considered suspicious and that there were no reported injuries.
   Zhang does not know when the electricity in her store will be restored, but she is anxious to get to work re-cleaning the 2,000 garments that sustained water damage and smell of smoke, a task she estimates will take her two to three months to complete. In the meantime, the customers who need their clothes right away can pick them up and bring them back to be cleaned at a later time.
   Business had already been slow, according to Zhang and she worries that the disruption in service will cause her to lose customers, making already difficult times even worse.
   Denzil Stone, the owner of Denzil’s Re-upholstery and Drapery, said the fire has affected his business as well, even though his store did not suffer any physical damage related to the blaze.
   “I haven’t been getting any customers since the fire,” he said. “The street is blocked off and there is no place to walk.”
   Stone was referring to NYPD barricades and caution tape that were placed in front of the area where the fire took place, making the street in front of his store difficult to navigate.
   Stone said he was shocked when he saw thick black smoke billowing out of the 99-cent store, never imagining that he would ever see a fire of that magnitude.
   “I smelled the smoke and I ran outside,” he said. “I was scared because I thought the whole block was going to be burned down.”
   The FDNY told Stone to leave his business and stand across the street and down the block, where he watched the fire unfold for several hours. Expecting that it would also damage his store, he wished he could return to save some things but firefighters wouldn’t let him. Finally at 10 p.m. that evening Stone was allowed to go back to his business to pull the security shutters down and lock the door.
   Sadik Ruffin, a barber at Signature Beauty Hair salon, a few doors away from where the blaze occurred, recalled a customer leaving his store and shouting what he thought was “fight” — but realized was “fire” once he smelled the smoke-filled air. Ruffin said he saw the owner of the 99-cent store standing outside the burning building coughing and with his hair badly charred.
   “He was hysterical,” Ruffin said. “He was covering his head like he couldn’t believe what had happened to his business.”
   According to Ruffin, an employee from the car service establishment gave the 99-cent store owner a fire extinguisher, but the crowd that had gathered all advised him not to re-enter the building because it was far too dangerous. Fortunately he heeded their warning.
   “There was no way that he was going to put out that fire with that small fire extinguisher,” Ruffin said adding, “The store was really congested, so it was easy for it to go up in flames.”
   Ngozi Onunkwo, the CEO of Aso-Rock Lounge and Restaurant, an eatery in the same strip that serves authentic African cuisine, said her establishment wasn’t directly damaged by the fire, but that firefighters did break seven holes in her dining room ceiling because they had to make sure the fire wasn’t travelling through the roof. They also broke a window.
   “We are very grateful to God because our damage is minimal, but our neighbors lost their properties,” she said.
   Onunkwo estimates that she will lose $4,000 in revenue since her restaurant was forced to close for four days while she waits for the holes in the ceiling to be repaired. The task is taking longer than usual because she had to find a contractor who could not only patch the damaged area, but do so in such a way that it matched the architectural décor of the establishment.
   Onunkwo, a friend of the 99-cent store owner, whom she said is named Papu, feels terrible that he lost his business. “He is a very nice man,” she said. “He loved that place. You could see the passion that he had for that store. He is very dedicated. He worked almost 12 hours a day, seven days a week.”
   Many of the merchants also expressed their appreciation and thanks to the FDNY and NYPD for their sustained efforts to control the blaze and keep everyone safe.