The heart of downtown Lake Orion was changed forever on Thursday morning, when a grease fire that began in the kitchen of Sagebrush Cantina destroyed nearly a block of businesses housed in historic buildings on Broadway St.
The Orion Township Fire Department was called to the scene in the Village of Lake Orion just before 7 a.m. on March 4. By the time they arrived, the fire had already engulfed the kitchen and spread to the roof of Sagebrush.
“Most of it was in the back,” said fire chief Jeff Key. “With all the smoke it was hard to tell how much of the building was involved.”
Sagebrush Cantina owner Diya Zaraga said he learned about the fire around 7 a.m. and that it began as a grease fire in the kitchen.
Orion Township firefighters worked until nearly 4 p.m. with firefighters from Addison, Oakland and Oxford Townships and Auburn Hills to control the blaze, which spread to neighboring businesses Kimberly Travel, Oldies Ice Cream, Coldwell Banker Shooltz Realty and Allstate Insurance.
All were completely destroyed, along with the Sagebrush Cantina.
Broadway Records received smoke and water damage, but that building remained intact. Key said the fire was hard to contain because the buildings involved were old and built before a fire code required a fire wall.
“We had most of the main fire out right away, but we were there most of the day putting out trapped pockets, because of the collapse,” said Key.
“We put firefighters on every level of the Verwood Apartments (beside Oldies Ice Cream), to make sure the fire didn’t spread there. That was the line we weren’t going to let the fire move past,” he said.
About 30 units were evacuated in the Verwood building, along with apartments above Ed’s Broadway Gifts, which was not damaged by fire. Resident parrot Picasso of Ed’s was taken out of the building, as well as several cats from the Verwood Apartment Building.
CJ’s Village Cafe was also damaged by smoke and water, mostly in the basement. The cafe managed to clean up enough to open Saturday morning.
“We were a 2×4 away from disaster,” said CJ’s owner Carl Slomczenski. “We were so lucky.”
Slomczenski said he only had a waitress and cook working at 6:30 a.m. when the fire broke out at Sagebrush.
“It’ll take another two to three days to finish cleaning up,” he said Monday morning. “The health department has worked with us really well, and the fire fighters worked really hard and we appreciate that.”
Kimberly Travel owner Teri Krywko wasn’t so lucky, but said her business will continue.
“I just switched to a web-based system, so I can pull everything up on my computer at home,” she said. “My clients can still go on their trips. I can still book trips, the only thing I can’t run right now are airline tickets.”
Krywko will work out of her Rochester Hills home until she finds a new location, hopefully still in the village. She moved into her Broadway office just several weeks ago. She said her daughter called her Thursday morning to tell her about the fire.
“My daughter called me at 7:30 a.m. and said ‘you better get down here,’” said Krywko. “There was nothing we could do. The biggest thing is there were no lives lost. My husband always says ‘Anything can be replaced except a life.’”
Zaraga also plans to keep his business in the village, rebuilding Sagebrush Cantina, a Lake Orion staple and out-of-town crowd drawer, as soon as possible in the same location.
“We actually probably will start as soon as Monday,” he said on Friday morning, as workers were already gathering on Broadway to begin the clean-up job. Rivers of charred debris went as far down as Anderson and Front Street as firefighters poured thousands of gallons of water on the fire.
“We want to rebuild as fast as we can,” Zaraga said. “We want to restore the building, it’s historic.”
Zaraga said he hopes his restaurant, which employed about 60 people, will be up and running again in a short time. He said the support he has gotten from fellow village business owners and residents who are Sagebrush fans has been “unbelievable.”
“Unfortunately, you find out how many great people there are in the community from such tragic circumstances,” he said. “The people of Lake Orion are amazing. I have people calling my house, offering to help come clean up.”
Jarvis Emergency Service of Harrison Township was already working Friday morning to clear away debris. Damage storefronts were boarded up, along with the broken windows of Broadway Records.
Ed’s Broadway Gifts, which sits on the corner of Flint and Broadway two buildings down from Sagebrush, was open for business on Friday morning.
Other business owners who found their buildings destroyed Thursday morning are scrambling to find space to continue their operations. Lew LaPaugh’s Allstate insurance customers can call 1-800-ALLSTATE or 693-5200 for more information.
Customers of Kimberly Travel can call the same business number at 814-6800, which is the office number that Krywko has had transferred to her home.