NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — As temperatures hovered in the 90s on Wednesday, Norfolk firefighters battled a commercial fire and the elements Wednesday afternoon in the Park Place area of Norfolk. 

The fire broke out at The Desk Doctor furniture repair and refinishing company in the 200 block of West 23rd Street, in the same block where O’Connor Brewing Co., 757 Makerspace and Old Peanut Company are located. The Desk Doctor is at 250 West. 23rd right off Llewellyn Ave.

At 3:39 p.m., Norfolk Fire-Rescue said firefighters had to be pulled out of the building, but ladder trucks were able to attack the fire from above. At 4:15, the department tweeted the fire had been knocked down by the ladder trucks and firefighters were heading back inside the structure. 

The fire was officially marked under control around 4:35 p.m.

Firefighters were called back to the scene Thursday morning for a report of light smoke in the area, according to dispatch.

A person who was inside the building when the fire started told WAVY’s Deanna Bettineschi that renovations were being done on a room. He said about five people were inside at the time, but all got out safely. 

“I was in the back and i heard a boom and i seen fire flashing out the vent,” said a witness named PJ. “There’s just about a 2-foot alleyway, maybe not even that a foot, alleyway in between. We weren’t worried about this building, but we were worried if it exploded or not.”
 
“It was raging pretty bad when i got here,” said WAVY producer Jeff Snyder. “It was dark, it was pretty thick, it was billowing out of the windows and a garage door on the side, it was coming out pretty good.”

The official cause of the fire is under investigation.