BUSINESS DESTROYED BY FIRE

Arson investigators are on the scene this morning at The Hair Place, a hair salon in the 22600 block of Loop 494 near Kingwood Drive. The business went up in flames in minutes. Heavy black smoke could be seen in downtown Houston, Firefighters were dispatched just before 5pm. One station in Kingwood was already on a call but the other stations responded having to push traffic out of the way as they made their way down Kingwood Drive. Other crews having to do the same on US 59 with traffic slowing to watch the smoke and wondering what was burning , firefighters desperately using sirens and air horns to move traffic and make way for the big trucks.

Arriving on the scene the District Chief immediately took a defensive mode, fighting the fire from the outside. The damage of putting firefighters inside with the amount of fire and it being a wood structure was to great as part of the roof already started collapsing. The business next door, a design center had vinyl already melting off the side of the building. The pine trees ignited as did the grass across the street near Lowes parking lot. With temperatures close to 100 degrees and firefighters giving it everything they had, a second alarm was pulled. That alarm brought additional manpower in from stations as far south as the Little York area. and some even further.  With the building already lost , efforts were put on saving the exposures, the design center and the great Amedeo’s Italian  Restaurant. The restaurant, a fixture in the location of close to 30 years suffered some smoke damage and some water as it was able to seep through the doors. Owner Tony Raffa’s watched as firefighters fought to keep his building protected.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation.