A spectacular four-alarm fire gutted a strip of five stores in the Longwood section of the Bronx.
Eyewitness News is told the huge fire tore through the strip of mall stores on Southern Boulevard just before 10 p.m. last night.
Officials say it destroyed a bank, a music store and a jewelry store. It also damaged a McDonald's restaurant.
Flames apparently traveled through the cockloft section of the structure connecting the stores. Firefighters were forced by heavy flames to battle the blaze from outside the building.
It took firefighters several to put out the fire, and they stayed at the scene overnight for overhaul.
Eight people -- six of them firefighters -- were treated for minor injures, mostly for smoke inhalation and exhaustion.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. It is not suspicious.
