by Jade Mcdowell and Jonathan Lemire
DAILY NEWS WRITERS A three-alarm fire ripped through a row of East Village businesses Wednesday, spewing plumes of smoke that towered over the neighborhood.
The blaze ignited at 10:15 a.m. at Pete's-a-Place, a pizza joint on E. 14th St. near Avenue A, and quickly spread to the four other stores that share a one-story building.
"All of a sudden, we heard, 'Fire, fire,' and we ran out," said Essa Assa Bahi, 29, a clerk at the damaged Stuyvesant Convenience Grocery and Deli.
"The smoke was very thick. You couldn't see anything in the store," said Renee Rauger, a neighbor.
A hair salon, a tax services business and a vacant store were also damaged in the fire, which was brought under control at 1 p.m.
No one was injured.
Investigators believe the fire was sparked by a welder.
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