Grant
Administrator
Blaze destroys 2 restaurants
Saturday, June 03, 2006
By MIKE BURKE and JEANETTE DeFORGE
Staff writers
HOLYOKE - A delay in alerting firefighters allowed a small blaze to spread unchecked yesterday and become a huge fire that ripped through and destroyed two popular downtown restaurants.
Fire Chief David A. LaFond said the blaze, which began in the Pizza Palace restaurant, jumped into an oven duct leading into the top floor of the two-story building and spread quickly while restaurant employees tried to douse the fire with an extinguisher.
The fire jumped from the Pizza Palace at 517 Dwight St. into the adjoining First Wok Restaurant at 519 Dwight St.
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Hundreds of people were drawn to the blaze, across the street from City Hall, which was reported by telephone to fire headquarters at 10:14 a.m., LaFond said. A second alarm was ordered by Deputy Chief William P. Moran at 10:34 and a third alarm was ordered at 11:01 a.m.
LaFond and Moran said the attempt to douse the fire by the employees delayed firefighter response.
"We had a full-blown blaze by the time we got here," Moran said.
Officials said employees were baking bread when flames broke out. After the fire grew, the five employees escaped.
Moran said when firefighters arrived, they tried to get to the second floor but their way was blocked by fire and stored materials.
One firefighter, Lt. Kevin Dorman, was taken from the scene to Holyoke Medical Center where he was treated for heat exhaustion and overexertion and later released.
Other firefighters escaped serious injury while trying to save the Chinese restaurant.
"We had about five men in the First Wok looking for hot spots at the beginning of the fire when the ceiling collapsed on them. Four got out and then had to go back to rescue Firefighter David Rex who almost got trapped in the rubble," LaFond said.
Rex, a veteran firefighter, was treated at the scene but remained on duty.
Several other firefighters reported minor injuries but all stayed on scene.
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Firefighters from Northampton, West Springfield, Chicopee and Springfield, assisted under mutual aid. A unit from Westover that helps fill air packs with oxygen, the Air Cascade System, also was on scene.
Firefighters struggled to keep the fire from spreading to the adjacent four-story apartment block that houses True Deliverance Church on the first floor at 523 Dwight St. and cars in the city parking deck located next to the restaurants.
Firefighters were assigned inside the four-story building using thermal imagers to sense any hot spots that would indicate the fire was moving to that building. The building received smoke damage only.
A portion of High, Dwight, John and Hampden streets was blocked off all day, causing detours around the downtown area.
The building, owned by Maria Mantzios who runs the Pizza Palace, was termed a total loss by officials. Pizza Palace has been open since the early 1980s when it was located on Dwight Street near where the parking deck is located. They purchased the 517 Dwight St. building in 1987 from Marken Properties.
First Wok had not opened yet. Owner Kim Cheng said he saw smoke billowing from the block as he was driving to the restaurant. He did not learn his business had been destroyed until he arrived.
"I saw a lot of smoke and I said 'Oh my God, not my restaurant,'" Cheng said.
Cheng, who has owned the restaurant for 20 years, runs it with four family members. His business is insured and Cheng said he does hope to reopen.
John Mantzios, who operates the Pizza restaurant with his mother, said he was determined to reopen. "It's all my family knows. We have to keep going."
Even before the flames had been fully extinguished, Mayor Michael J. Sullivan said the city's economic development office started talking about finding locations for the two restaurants.
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"The bad side is we are losing two viable businesses, but the good news is some space has been rehabbed recently and that may allow them to move quickly," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said there were locations such as the former Stein Jewelry store on Dwight Street and the buildings owned by the New England Farm Workers and Holyoke Health Center in the High and Dwight streets area.
"They may have space available and we would like to get these people back in business as soon as we can," Sullivan said.
Losing the two businesses is also devastating to people who work at City Hall, District Court and other businesses who frequented the two restaurants.
Holyoke City Hall was closed at about 11:05 a.m., mostly because the smoke that was drifting south made the air quality in the building unhealthy, Sullivan said.
Many employees had parked in the municipal parking garage beside the restaurants and City Hall and could not drive their cars out because fire trucks and hoses were blocking the exits.
Later, at about 12:30 p.m., Holyoke District Court, which is behind City Hall, was also closed because of unhealthy air quality.
There were two families living in the four-story next door to the two businesses. Xu Ping, the owner of the building, was able to move them to two other recently renovated apartments he had available at 370 High St.
Firefighters began clearing the scene about 4 p.m. but some units stayed to check for hot spots.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
By MIKE BURKE and JEANETTE DeFORGE
Staff writers
HOLYOKE - A delay in alerting firefighters allowed a small blaze to spread unchecked yesterday and become a huge fire that ripped through and destroyed two popular downtown restaurants.
Fire Chief David A. LaFond said the blaze, which began in the Pizza Palace restaurant, jumped into an oven duct leading into the top floor of the two-story building and spread quickly while restaurant employees tried to douse the fire with an extinguisher.
The fire jumped from the Pizza Palace at 517 Dwight St. into the adjoining First Wok Restaurant at 519 Dwight St.
Advertisement
Hundreds of people were drawn to the blaze, across the street from City Hall, which was reported by telephone to fire headquarters at 10:14 a.m., LaFond said. A second alarm was ordered by Deputy Chief William P. Moran at 10:34 and a third alarm was ordered at 11:01 a.m.
LaFond and Moran said the attempt to douse the fire by the employees delayed firefighter response.
"We had a full-blown blaze by the time we got here," Moran said.
Officials said employees were baking bread when flames broke out. After the fire grew, the five employees escaped.
Moran said when firefighters arrived, they tried to get to the second floor but their way was blocked by fire and stored materials.
One firefighter, Lt. Kevin Dorman, was taken from the scene to Holyoke Medical Center where he was treated for heat exhaustion and overexertion and later released.
Other firefighters escaped serious injury while trying to save the Chinese restaurant.
"We had about five men in the First Wok looking for hot spots at the beginning of the fire when the ceiling collapsed on them. Four got out and then had to go back to rescue Firefighter David Rex who almost got trapped in the rubble," LaFond said.
Rex, a veteran firefighter, was treated at the scene but remained on duty.
Several other firefighters reported minor injuries but all stayed on scene.
Advertisement
Firefighters from Northampton, West Springfield, Chicopee and Springfield, assisted under mutual aid. A unit from Westover that helps fill air packs with oxygen, the Air Cascade System, also was on scene.
Firefighters struggled to keep the fire from spreading to the adjacent four-story apartment block that houses True Deliverance Church on the first floor at 523 Dwight St. and cars in the city parking deck located next to the restaurants.
Firefighters were assigned inside the four-story building using thermal imagers to sense any hot spots that would indicate the fire was moving to that building. The building received smoke damage only.
A portion of High, Dwight, John and Hampden streets was blocked off all day, causing detours around the downtown area.
The building, owned by Maria Mantzios who runs the Pizza Palace, was termed a total loss by officials. Pizza Palace has been open since the early 1980s when it was located on Dwight Street near where the parking deck is located. They purchased the 517 Dwight St. building in 1987 from Marken Properties.
First Wok had not opened yet. Owner Kim Cheng said he saw smoke billowing from the block as he was driving to the restaurant. He did not learn his business had been destroyed until he arrived.
"I saw a lot of smoke and I said 'Oh my God, not my restaurant,'" Cheng said.
Cheng, who has owned the restaurant for 20 years, runs it with four family members. His business is insured and Cheng said he does hope to reopen.
John Mantzios, who operates the Pizza restaurant with his mother, said he was determined to reopen. "It's all my family knows. We have to keep going."
Even before the flames had been fully extinguished, Mayor Michael J. Sullivan said the city's economic development office started talking about finding locations for the two restaurants.
Advertisement
"The bad side is we are losing two viable businesses, but the good news is some space has been rehabbed recently and that may allow them to move quickly," Sullivan said.
Sullivan said there were locations such as the former Stein Jewelry store on Dwight Street and the buildings owned by the New England Farm Workers and Holyoke Health Center in the High and Dwight streets area.
"They may have space available and we would like to get these people back in business as soon as we can," Sullivan said.
Losing the two businesses is also devastating to people who work at City Hall, District Court and other businesses who frequented the two restaurants.
Holyoke City Hall was closed at about 11:05 a.m., mostly because the smoke that was drifting south made the air quality in the building unhealthy, Sullivan said.
Many employees had parked in the municipal parking garage beside the restaurants and City Hall and could not drive their cars out because fire trucks and hoses were blocking the exits.
Later, at about 12:30 p.m., Holyoke District Court, which is behind City Hall, was also closed because of unhealthy air quality.
There were two families living in the four-story next door to the two businesses. Xu Ping, the owner of the building, was able to move them to two other recently renovated apartments he had available at 370 High St.
Firefighters began clearing the scene about 4 p.m. but some units stayed to check for hot spots.