The owners of more than a dozen small businesses in Queens face an uncertain future after a fire destroyed a strip mall, and their livelihoods. NY1's Ruschell Boone filed the following report.

Looking at what is left of his practice and talking to men who said they were fire insurance investigators, Kevin Hagler says everything he has worked hard to build inside his law office has been destroyed. He now has the overwhelming task of trying to put his business back together. 

"I've never done anything like this before. I've never lost anything like this. So I'm just learning how to do this," he said.

Hagler started his practice three years ago after becoming a lawyer. He was able to salvage his records through a computer backup, but it's been hard trying to work from home. 

"Now, I have to go to the bank and get checkbooks. FedEx keeps calling me saying that they are trying to make a delivery, but they can't, obviously. So I have to go to FedEx and pick up the packages at FedEx," he said. "Looking at other spaces in the meantime. It just takes time. It takes a lot out of you."

Hagler's law office was one of the 14 businesses destroyed when the five-alarm fire tore through a commercial strip at Vleigh Place and 77th Road. 

"It was one big happy family," Hagler said. "Every morning, I would say hi to him, hi to him, hi to him," Hagler said. "The bakery, I would go in every morning, I waved to them. The pizza store, I would always say hi. 

Benjamin Kandinov's father owned the barbershop next to Hagler's business. He has been a barber in this close-knit community for 30 years, but moved to this location just two months ago. Now, he's not sure where to go next. 

"We are looking for other opportunities to go work part-time with somebody for the time being," Kandinov said. "We don't know what the future holds."

For now, they will work at a shop on Main Street and 73rd Avenue. A gofundme page has also been set up, under Eliyaus Barbershop, to help Elia Kandinov rebuild. 

As for Hagler, he says he, too, will rebuild, but he's not certain if it will be here.