Pizza shop owner cleaning up after fire
CONNELLSVILLE – A local pizza shop owner and employees are working to re-establish the business following a New Year’s Day fire that gutted the building and destroyed everything used to make and deliver the international and local favorite. Pizza King owner Robert Welsh said Friday that everyone is anxious to resume providing football game half-time pizzas, hoagies and wings to their customers, but it will take a few more weeks before the business is operational.
The Eighth Street business was gutted and an adjacent plumbing and heating firm sustained heavy smoke and water damage in the Dec. 31 fire.
“We lost everything. All of our equipment – our ovens, mixer, everything from A to Z – is gone,” he said.
The state police fire marshal has ruled the fire as accidental.
The cause of the fire, said Welsh, was a chemical reaction that took place in a pile of towels the business routinely utilizes throughout the day.
“We use a 12- by 12-inch terrycloth towel, that was washed, but the chemicals apparently caused a spontaneous combustion,” he said.
The business was open until 8 p.m. New Year’s Eve, preparing and delivering food to customers before he and the employees left to celebrate the incoming new year.
“I went (to the business) at about 5 p.m. on New Year’s Day to drop off the towels and get the (pizza) dough out to thaw for the next day,” said Welsh, noting the business was closed in observance of the holiday, but scheduled to re-open Wednesday.
Shortly after 11 p.m. that night, he returned to the shop and found firefighters trying to extinguish the flames engulfing the building.
Home of the popular Steelers game day specials, Welsh has owned the business for 13 years, but worked there five years prior to buying it from a friend.
He has been in the process of moving the business to a new location in the Village Plaza since July, but state mandates have slowed the relocation timetable.
Welsh speculates he will sustain a substantial financial loss through the playoff season as the business flourishes on game days.
Also he has concerns for the regular customers that have faithfully frequented the shop and his loyal employees.
“We have a lot of very good customers, some that order food from us two or three times a week,” he said. “We also have employees that are now out of work.”
Welsh said that an interim plan is being formulated to restart the business.
“We’re trying our best to get back,” he said.