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'This is my livelihood' | Modesto party supply store loses more than 3,000 dresses in fire

The Atiza Party Supply store lost everything in a fire just after sunset on Sunday night. Fire investigators are still working to figure out what happened.

MODESTO, Calif. — After a devastating fire tore through Atiza Party Supply on Crows Landing Road Sunday night, a local business owner in Modesto is picking up the pieces.

"There was fire billowing, smoke everywhere," Andy Sanchez, owner of Atiza Party Supply said.

In the fire, Sanchez lost just about everything.

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"I mean we just want to get back to work. This is my livelihood. This is how I feed my family," he said.

His employees had just packed up shop and gone home for the night when he got a call that his store was on fire.

"What am I going to do?" he said.

Atiza Party Supply has been in his family in the Modesto area for nearly three decades. 

The store specializes in quinceanera and wedding dresses. He believes they lost more than 3,000 of those dresses in the fire, not to mention hundreds of piñatas and other party supplies.

Sanchez spent a good chunk of Sunday night and Monday morning contacting his customers and putting out overnight orders for the events still happening this weekend.

"We've got two dresses for this Saturday [that] we're getting next day'd to us, so hopefully, they'll go out today or tomorrow, be here by Wednesday... we just want to do right by our customers," he said.

His sister, Veronica Garcia, owns and operates a photography studio inside of this building as well. She also lost everything in the fire.

"It's very sad. We're very optimistic though. I think it's definitely - it will come back strong," Garcia said. "I don't think it killed the business. It's just a set back for right now. We'll figure it out though."

For customers like Angela Huerta, the fire comes as a blow as well. She was relaying on the store for decorations and specialized supplies for her wedding day on Saturday. 

"I was a little devastated that Atiza had an accident and a fire occurred," said Huerta. "I was coming in to purchase some more things - I was here Saturday. I ordered some ribbons."

The store just had decorations shipped in from Mexico that Huerta picked out. Now, she's scrambling to find the same goods somewhere else.

"So, I'll have to go down the street and see what I can find in a hurry, to try and replace whatever it is that I lost. Nothing can replace what I lost here," she said.

The owners are planning to rebuild and get this business back up and running, no matter how long it takes. It's a tribute to the family meaning behind the word Atiza, the name of their business.

"What it means is to kind of go forward - to keep going to rise up - so we've always kind of looked at it as hurry up and keep going. You have to kind of keep moving," Garcia said.

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Fire investigators say they believe the fire started inside of this business but the cause is still under investigation at this time.

One firefighter was hurt responding to this blaze. He was taken to the hospital and has since been released.

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