Cause of restaurant blaze may never be known

The owner of a North Huntingdon Township restaurant destroyed by fire expressed hope Wednesday that he will be able to rebuild.

Fire damage to the Tomato Patch on Route 30 was so extensive, officials said, that its cause may never be determined. The building is believed to be a total loss, and the value of the structure and its contents may exceed $700,000.

Flames swept across the roof of the restaurant, formerly known as Charlie J's, just after the supper crowd was leaving Tuesday night. Within minutes, the building was filled with choking smoke. Firefighters from 11 companies responded but were unable to stop the fast-moving blaze.

'People were sitting at their tables and we were evacuating them with not one minute to spare,' said owner Joe Juricich Jr. 'By the time we got everybody out I was on my hands and knees looking for the door.'

About 40 to 60 people were inside at the time, he said.

As Juricich was attempting yesterday to salvage what he could of the restaurant's financial records, forlorn employees held a mock wake in the parking lot.

A few of the newly unemployed waiters and kitchen staff made jokes with their colleagues, but their jibes elicited only weak smiles.

'I don't know whether to laugh or cry,' one man said.

The fire came less than two weeks after a new benefit package for the workers kicked in, Juricich said. 'I just feel bad for my employees,' he said. 'From the time I opened, they were really, really dedicated.'

The Tomato Patch, which featured pizza, family-style Italian cuisine, an arcade and a bar, opened in 1998. Juricich, whose family owns Nigro's Restaurant in neighboring North Versailles Township, purchased the 20-year-old, one-story wood and concrete building from his aunt, who ran Charlie J's.

Juricich said he recently read in a trade magazine that 97 percent of independent restaurants that open go out of business in the first year. 'Another 2 percent go out in the next year,' he said. 'In the last six to eight months, our (business) was just starting to get good. Things were looking up.'

In addition to the renovations completed when Juricich purchased the building, its entrance was recently remodeled, he said.

A refrigerated case that displayed fresh pizza dough near the entrance was covered with charred wood and insulation yesterday. The ceiling in the lounge area had collapsed onto a pool table and thousands of dollars in video games.

Because there is little fire damage to the ground floor of the restaurant, investigators believe the blaze began in the crawl space under the roof, said Bill Traill, first assistant chief of the Hartford Heights fire department.

The fire may have smoldered for some time before flames became visible, he said, though it would not have been apparent to people inside. A veteran firefighter picked up a pizza at the Tomato Patch about an hour before the blaze was reported and noticed nothing amiss, Traill said.

Yet by the time fire trucks began arriving on the scene Tuesday night, flames were licking the edge of the roof.

Crews initially attacked the fire from inside, but pulled out when the roof began to shift. They feared that three rooftop air conditioners would fall on them, Traill said.

At that point, 'all you can do is surround and drown' the fire from aerial trucks, he said. In addition to Hartford Heights, crews from Circleville, Hahntown, Larimer, Irwin, Westmoreland City, Strawpump, North Irwin and North Versailles fought the fire, along with White Oak's Rainbow company and Monroeville No. 1 fire department.

Township police and North Huntingdon Fire Marshal Mitchell Astalos are investigating, with assistance from state police Troop A in Greensburg.

Trooper Kevin Karwatsky, state police fire marshal, said no ruling has been issued on the cause. 'Nothing can be ruled out, because we don't know what happened,' he said.

Although powerful thunderstorms swept through the area Tuesday afternoon, Traill discounted speculation that lightning may have struck the building. The storms were over long before the fire began, he said, and the electrical system inside showed no signs of a lightning strike.

Firefighters had trouble using a hydrant located only a few hundred feet away because new landscaping and curbs made access difficult. For four months, Traill said, officials asked the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County to turn the hydrant around, but their pleas were ignored.

Eventually, firefighters snaked hoses down Carpenter Lane to Stewartsville Elementary School to pump water onto the blaze.

A water authority crew showed up early Wednesday morning to turn the hydrant in question. MAWC officials did not return phone calls from the Tribune-Review yesterday.

A Circleville fire engine was damaged and had to be towed after firefighters backed over a curb and up to the hydrant in a desperate attempt to get more water.

Circleville fire Chief Calvin Scherff said the 1970 Seagrave pumper sank into the soft, muddy ground, and its fuel tank became wedged against the curb, breaking a support strap. Its running board was also damaged. The truck will likely be out of service until next week, he said.

Even if the hydrant was available, 'it would not have saved that building,' Traill said. 'The building was already going up.'

An insurance investigator was to examine the building yesterday, said Juricich, who would like to rebuild. 'I just hope I can rebuild it for what I'm covered for.'