Fair Lawn Mayor on Friday Strip Mall Fire: "Together we will rebuild."

FAIR LAWN, NJ - The mayor has vowed to help the seven businesses affected by the July 26 fire on Fair Lawn Avenue rebuild, bringing in local, county, state and federal government entities to "help [business owners] find and obtain any and all resources available to help them recover."

There has been no determination yet what caused the fire, but it quickly engulfed the strip mall on the 1900 block of Fair Lawn Avenue around 2:30 a.m. Friday, July 26. The fire caused the Green Dragon restaurant's roof to cave in due to "heavy air-handling equipment [located] on the roof of the building," according to Fair Lawn Assistant Fire Chief Ralph Rinaldo.

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He said the fire "got into the common cockloft of the building and spread horizontally to the other businesses in the complex.”

“The fire caused widespread damage to all the businesses located in the strip mall. It’s obviously devastating to lose these small businesses as people lose their livelihoods,” Rinaldo said.

No firefighters or business owners were injured.

Social media was abuzz with individuals upset over the fire and offers of help for several of the business owners affected, including: Green Dragon, Flynn's Barbershop, Fair Lawn Road House, Mashu Sushi, Dream on Lash, Regency Cleaners, and Zadie's Kosher Bakery.

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On Monday morning, July 29, Mayor Gail Rottenstrich issued this statement:

Fair Lawn was shocked to learn of the news of the fire early Friday morning that destroyed several of Fair Lawn's beloved small businesses.

The Fair Lawn Building Department has been working over the weekend with the building owner to ensure that an engineer's report is generated and the site is secured so that the business owners' remaining property is protected and can be retrieved as soon and as safely as possible. The property owner has stated that they are anxious to rebuild and the Borough will expedite all permits necessary to ensure that the process proceeds as quickly as possible.

Fair Lawn Main Street, Inc., through its Executive Director Ryan Greff, and Vince Vicarro of the NJ Small Business Development Center, have reached out to the business owners to help them find and obtain any and all resources available to help them recover and rebuild. Our former Mayor and Assemblywoman Lisa Swain has reached out to the state Economic Development Organization, and our Congressman Josh Gottheimer's is also ready and willing to help with any federal resources available for the businesses and property owner.

The outpouring support from the Fair Lawn community has been truly heartwarming. We are encouraging the businesses to identify trusted people who can help them set up individual fundraising efforts, and have asked them to send us the information so that we can send it out to the community. First and foremost we want to ensure that all donations made to benefit the businesses reach the businesses as directly, and as quickly as possible, so that they can have the most impact.

We thank everyone who has reached out to help so far, but especially want to thank our First Responders including our Fire Department, Volunteer Ambulance Corp, Rescue Squad, Police Department and surrounding communities who came to our aid. Because of their efforts, there were no injuries and the fire was contained to the shopping center alone.

We are all anxious to see the property rebuilt and these businesses back up and running again as quickly as possible. Together we will rebuild.

Mayor Gail Rottenstrich - Borough of Fair Lawn

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