Several small business owners are picking up the pieces today after a two-alarm fire damaged a barber shop and two other stores in Valley Stream last night.

The Valley Stream Fire Department said the fire started at 539 West Merrick Rd., just after 9 p.m.

50 firefighters battled heavy smoke and flames. They were able to get the fire under control in about 45 minutes.

“It started smoking," Laundry Express owner Gloria Suaco recalled. "They came in very fast and stopped the fire."

Two neighboring businesses, a shoe repair shop and Junior's Juice Bar & Jerk Pit, sustained smoke damage, according to the Nassau County Police Department. Officials said both were closed when the fire started.

No people were injured, but the Nassau County Fire Marshal's office said almost 20 birds, an unknown number of fish and possibly turtles all perished in the fire last night. They were apparently pets of the occupants.

The Nassau County Fire Marshal's office is investigating this morning, though they have initially deemed the fire non-suspicious.