EVERETT — A garbage fire behind an Everett strip mall damaged three businesses Wednesday morning.

As he headed out for work, Rob Edinger could see a black cloud in the sky from his home off Madison Street around 7:15 a.m.

“I thought the weather was supposed to be clear this week,” he wondered.

He soon realized it was a cloud of smoke billowing from a Domino’s Pizza in the 7600 block of Evergreen Way. Flames shot high into the air, above rooftops in the row of businesses.

Video by Rob Edinger

Edinger feared the whole shopping center — a Safeway, a teriyaki restaurant, a Dollar Tree, and so forth — could catch fire. He pulled over. He didn’t see anyone in need of help. He started to record video from about 1,000 feet away. He could feel the heat.

Everett firefighters found the fire in a Dumpster against the back of the pizza restaurant. They pulled the garbage bin away from the building, but flames had seeped into the roof and charred outer concrete walls. Power lines near the garbage bin burned. A second alarm summoning additional firefighters was quickly canceled.

Domino’s, Ichiban Teriyaki and a third vacant storefront were damaged. Early on the cost of repairs was estimated at $15,000, said Steve Goforth, assistant city fire marshal. Much of that is linked to the roof and water damage. If the electrical system needs to be replaced, repairs could cost closer to $50,000, Goforth said.

The cause of the fire was being investigated Wednesday. A Domino’s employee reported discovering the fire when the power shut off all of a sudden. Homeless people stay behind the building, Goforth said, and had shut off power to the business on a whim in the past month.

Caleb Hutton: 425-339-3454; chutton@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @snocaleb.