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Fire races through Brick shopping center, destroying pizza place, other businesses

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Fire races through Brick shopping center, destroying pizza place, other businesses

BRICK — Firefighters closed Herbertsville Road on Saturday after a fire destroyed a plaza that housed Cuzzin’s Pizzeria and Restaurant, Jay’s Food Mart and Jerry’s Dry Cleaner, according to township police.

A call reported smoke coming from the building at 4:53 p.m., said Assistant Fire Chief Richard Orlando of the Brick Township Bureau of Fire Safety. The first police officers on scene saw fire along the roof of the plaza, he said.

“The fire was quite extensive,” he said. “It did race throughout the structure. The building is compromised. The roof and the rear walls have come down.”

The fire was extinguished before 7 p.m. and firefighters from all over Brick as well as neighboring towns remained on scene to monitor the building. Along Herbertsville Road, bystanders watched from the parking lots of nearby businesses.

Alfredo Martinez, owner of Cuzzin’s, was one of those bystanders. Martinez said he has owned the restaurant for the past 14 years.

“I don’t know how I feel right now,” Martinez said as he watched the firefighters cool hotspots in the blackened building.

Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, but no one was seriously injured, Orlando said.

The fire remains under investigation by fire marshals and township police, he said.

Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers education and the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than 15 years. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.

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