After a fire destroyed UMS Martial Arts, it resurfaced in the same retail strip

After UMS Martial Arts was destroyed by a fire on New Year’s Day, the studio has been operating in a temporary space at the same Barcroft Plaza shopping Center.

UMS offers the same schedule of taekwondo classes for children and adults as before, says instructor Guizen Del Canto. They also host adult Hapkido classes, summer camps, and birthday parties.

Related story: Fire destroys martial arts studio at Barcroft Plaza

The martial arts studio’s temporary location is a vacant storefront formerly occupied by Pearle Vision at 6343 Columbia Pike.

Del Canto has gotten no conclusive answer on what caused the fire, although he thinks it could have been an electrical problem, since they changed the lighting the previous week. The office of the Fairfax County Fire Marshal told Annandale Today it requires a Freedom of Information Act request to get details on the cause of the fire.

The Color by Design/Benjamin Moore paint store next to UMS was also heavily damaged in the fire and remains closed.

UMS will return to its former space after First Choice Services finishes cleaning up and restoring it.

Meanwhile, Del Canto says, “we’re open for business and ready to teach taekwondo.”