Annandale fire causes $3 million in damages
The fire that totaled a building with four businesses on Columbia Pike in Annandale on March 12 caused about $3 million in damages, reports Bill Delaney, the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department’s public information officer.
The building houses the Bonchon restaurant at 7215 Columbia Pike, the To Sok Jip restaurant, Hanmi Post, and the JJ Hair Salon & Barber.
Related story: Fire strikes businesses on Columbia Pike
Fire investigators haven’t determined the cause of the fire. That could take a day or as long as two months, Delaney says. Preliminarily, it doesn’t appear to be arson at this point. A gas leak kept the fire going, but that doesn’t mean the leak caused the fire.
The fire was well underway by the time the fire department arrived at about 7 a.m. While the building is across the street from the Annandale Volunteer Fire Department, they weren’t notified right away.
Thanks for following up on this. So sad. Hope they all had insurance.
That is too bad. I hope they are able to rebuild.😕
What did those buildings used to be in the 60s and 70s? (The building next door with the Thai was a nice delicatessen, with a gun range in the basement!)
Dawsons Gun shop
This group of restaurants and shops was just featured on the WETA (PBS) “If You Lived Here” series.
Let’s hope the landlord rebuilds something decent unlike the ugly edifice that stands on the corner of John Marr and 236
By that ugly edifice comment you just made, I feel like your referring to is Popeyes Chicken so when you drive past John Marr and 236 just look the other way no one cares what you think Vincent!
I’m so glad you approve of architecture that has the appeal of an outhouse. It is structurally so bland that all the spices in the world would still render it as BLAH!
Fortunately, it appears that no one was injured or worse in this fire. The building and business owners probably have insurance to cover at least a portion of their losses. The employees may be out of luck and that’s very sad. And as if we needed it, this fire is yet another wake up call about the decrepitude of much of the commercial infrastructure of the Mason District.
Fairfax County should invest on infrastructure improvements in Annandale, Mason District. Much of capital infrastructure funding goes to McLean and other districts with higher population of wealthier people.
That building had a serious rat problem. The heath department should inspect the surrounding food service businesses in this lot. The dumpster right next to this building absolutely reeked, very strong smelling odor.
Why is it still a wreck 1 yrs later?
My guess is that this site is still a wreck because nobody has cleaned it up.
I suggest that Fairfax County use eminent domain and use this site for a permanent art center.
I wonder that same thing every time I drive by. I can understand that all the affected businesses there are having their insurance companies duke it out to decide who funds the demolition, but if there was only one insurance company for the whole joint, they surely must have it figured out by now!
Still, I’m asking if anyone can tell us: who owns the property, who is responsible for the demolition and clean-up, and when the he11 are they going to remove that whole mess? How about now?!