A devastating fire tore through three Hamilton buildings and 11 businesses in Joell?s Alley early yesterday.

The Bermuda Fire Service (BFS) said it took 16 vehicles and 30 personnel over four hours from the first call at 3.38 a.m. until the large fire was finally brought under control at 7.41 a.m.

No figure has been released on the cost of the blaze.

Aeighsa Darrell-Augustus, one of 13 residents evacuated from a five-apartment building on Victoria Street, said she awoke to terrifying sounds of destruction.

?One guy thought it was gunshots,? Ms Darrell-Augustus said yesterday. ?The popping was crazy. I thought it was fireworks on the 4th of July.?

Ms. Darrell-Augustus also said the owner of a destroyed Bermuda Martial Arts Academy, who was off the Island yesterday morning, lost everything he owned inside his shop when the fire started.

A resident of the nearby Salvation Army Harbour Light shelter on King Street ? who did not want to be named ? said he asked himself, ?Who is shooting now?? when he heard the massive bangs.

?It was like a ?bap, bap, bap? of windows popping. I said ?What the devil?? Then I came outside and saw a fire,? he said. ?They (BFS) couldn?t get to it at first but those guys did a good job.?

Police spokesman Dwayne Caines said Police cordoned off an entire city block around Church Street, King Street, Victoria Street and Court Street as a safety precaution.

No cause for the fire has been determined, and Mr. Caines said arson had not been ruled out.

The Bermuda Electric Light Company (Belco) avoided firefighters getting electrocuted by de-energising power to the surrounding area after BFS requested the shutdown sometime between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m.

Belco chief executive Garry Madeiros said two switches were taken off the grid from its Fort Hamilton substation and all businesses were reconnected by 11 a.m. except for the buildings impacted by the fire.

While services at two Government buildings in the area, the Victoria Street Health Clinic and the National Office for Seniors and Physically Challenged, were either fully or partially cut for the day, the People?s Pharmacy ? which was connected to the burnt-out buildings on its southern side? was open for business by the afternoon.

Fire Service spokeswoman Lt. Wenda Godfrey said the first report of the structural fire placed it at ?the karate institute in Joell?s Alley?.

Firefighters concentrated on keeping the fire ? which caused major damage ? from spreading to nearby buildings, Lt. Godfrey said.

?The roof has collapsed. The inside second floor has also collapsed because that was all wooden floors so that burned through,? she said.

?We have no indication of the cause yet at all. But it will be a while because of the damage and the amount of debris that needs to be sifted through.?

Andrew?s Place, a six-storey office building under construction next to Joell?s Alley, also suffered heat and smoke damage, she said said.

?No fire really impinged on that building, so there is no fire damage,? she said. ?The damage to it would be heat and smoke.?

She said it was not possible yesterday to put a dollar figure on the cost of the fire damage as the value of all three Joell?s Alley buildings had yet to be calculated.

However, Lt. Godfrey said it was fortunate no one was injured by the block-wide blaze.

?It could have been much worse,? she said.

Despite battling the heat and smoke for over four hours, the morale of the 30 exhausted firefighters held up quite well, she said.

?We rotate crews so when one crew is working, one crew is resting,? Lt. Godfrey said.

Property manager Chris Graham-Ward ? whose own office at Bromefield Real Estate was gutted by the fire ? said the buildings might have to be demolished.

?Obviously it is very tragic,? Mr. Graham-Ward said. ?The damage was very substantial. From reports from the Fire Service it was totally gutted. Those businesses will not be able to operate for some time. Luckily it happened at night and not in the day.?

However, all three buildings were insured for fire damage, he added.

Nine shops were totally destroyed, Mr. Graham-Ward said, including: RayJuan?s Lingerie, Paula?s Hair Salon, Bermuda Martial Arts Academy, Angela?s Fashions, Spencer Hair Salon, Dentech, Dr. Richmond Simmons? medical office, Broomfield Real Estate and Uniquely You.

Two other shops, WOW! and P.C. Parts, received smoke and water damage only, he said.

When arrived at Church Street early yesterday, two employees of P.C. Parts were seen sheltering their inventory of computers into an alcove of a nearby church to avoid them getting wet from the BFS hoses.

When asked how badly the fire would affect their business, one P.C. Parts employee stated simply: ?We won?t be open today!?