Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - The Wednesday fire on Main Street that killed 37-year-old Buffalo firefighter Jason Arno is going to have a large and lasting impact on the Buffalo community for a good while, all while the community mourns the loss of a local hero.
Main Street businesses are still feeling the sting of the blaze. Luckily, most 700 block businesses are reporting no physical damage.
"There's no damage to the physical structure of the business," said Rory Allen, Owner of ZoomBuffalo, located on 725 Main. "We didn't have internet phones, gas, that kind of stuff. Things, I hope, will be restored as time goes on here. But, it's one of those things that you don't really want to start complaining about because we've (Buffalonians) been through a lot, so we're kind of used to having to navigate different tragedies and this is another one."
However, since the 700 block of Main is currently closed, ZoomBuffalo currently isn't operating.
"We're pretty much shut down since the streets are all blocked off with access to the building. We can't be in business. Obviously, there's going to be a financial impact to that with trying to keep paying our employees through all that. So you know, it's a setback."
Some business owners haven't been in their buildings since prior to the blaze, "I actually have no sense of whether or not there's been any damage to our facility," said David Horesh, Founder of Oxford Pennants. "I feel the likelihood that there was any damage is probably pretty low given that there's the distance between the building and where the smoke billowed."
The Black Butterfly Event Venue had to postpone their planned events on Wednesday. However, they were still operating Thursday, as they had a funeral reception they didn't want to cancel, but it still presented them with little options on where to park, as most of Main and Washington surround are closed to traffic.
While business may suffer some loss as a result of the fire, most 700 block businesses agree that no loss is bigger than the loss of Jason Arno.
"I couldn't sleep last night, thinking about Jason Arno and his family. I think we [as Buffalonians] all feel a great deal of connectivity with one another. And so I think this hurts a lot because it feels like we lost a neighbor, even though we didn't know one another," said Horesh.
Even though he will lose business in his retail store, Horesh says, "We're going to donate all proceeds from our company on this weekend. So Saturday, Sunday, anything that anybody buys on our site, we're going to donate all proceeds to Mr. Arno's wife and daughter."
