Ramzan Andani built his mobile phone business on Waukegan’s northwest side through hard work and a quick smile.
Now, a day after a natural gas explosion ripped through a nearby tuxedo store and caused irreparable damage to his shop, Cellular Concepts, the dream he built during the last 12 years must be torn down.
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“I have saved all my life savings to build this store,” Andani said.
Andani’s own cell phone rang incessantly Friday morning with calls from merchants checking on him and his wife, Habiba. Both were in the store Thursday about noon when the explosion occurred.
Meanwhile, investigators from several agencies were at the scene in the 1900 block of Grand Avenue. Eight people, one of whom remained hospitalized in fair condition, were injured in the blast, which shook buildings blocks away and sent mannequins from a tuxedo store flying into the street.
“I don’t know if it was a leak,” Waukegan Fire Marshal Steve Lenzi said. “There was natural gas in the building and something ignited it, creating the explosion.”
Officials focused on the water heater and boiler in the back of Tuxedo World, 1918 Grand Ave., where the roof caved in, leaving a tangled pile of splintered wood, masonry, pipes and formal wear.
Investigators from the building owner’s insurance company will take the boiler and water heater for lab analysis to determine whether they malfunctioned. The other shops in the building have their own gas equipment, which did not ignite, Lenzi said.
All the inspections and some preliminary demolition were finished by Friday afternoon. City officials plan to complete demolition by Monday night, Lenzi said.
Officials said late Thursday it was possible a victim was trapped in the rubble, but Friday’s search found no one.
Cars slowed on Grand on Friday as they passed the blown-out storefronts. The scene behind Andani’s shop was surreal as he and his teenage children made their way past demolition equipment and dozens of workers into the back door of their store to salvage any viable cell phones.
“I still have 30 boxes of phones in there — 150 phones,” Andani said.
Andani said he and his wife entered the store at noon Thursday and smelled a strong odor of gas. He went to get a glass of water, intending to call 911, but the ceiling caved in before he could get his drink. He freed himself from the rubble and helped his wife get out of the store.
Andani came to the United States from Pakistan in 1980. He said he didn’t have an insurance policy on his store.
“Everything is out of my pocket,” he said.
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