West Long Brach shopping plaza damaged by fire

A 3-alarm fire damaged the Carriage Square shopping center in West Long Branch on Saturday morning.

Flames broke out at the strip mall on Monmouth Road (Route 71) at Route 36 around 10:30 a.m., closing the road as fire crews from several surrounding towns responded, according to West Long Branch police. The road remained closed early on Saturday afternoon.

Assistant Fire Chief Pat Joyce told the Asbury Park Press the fire started in the ceiling and damaged three stores in the plaza.

No injuries have been reported. Route 71 remained closed early on Saturday afternoon at Route 36.

Fire is still burning in West Long Branch more units responding pic.twitter.com/npbsVEviZA

— The Link News (@TheLinkNews) October 31, 2015

Pictured: Quint 1-91 in operation this morning for a 4th Alarm commercial structure fire involving a strip mall on Monmouth Rd in West Long Branch. #OakhurstFD @westlongbranchfire

A photo posted by Township of Ocean District #1 (@oakhurst_fd) on Oct 31, 2015 at 10:07am PDT