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An early Sunday morning fire destroyed a Warsaw restaurant and, for several hours, shut down Ind. 15.
Blue Coyote, which was voted Kosciusko County's No. 1 restaurant in a 2001 Times-Union poll, is a total loss. Damage is estimated at $500,000.
A passerby called the fire department at 3:12 a.m. Sunday after spotting smoke rising from the structure.
The cause for the fire remains under investigation, but is not believed to be suspicious, officials said.
The owners of the business, Gene and Beth Ann Gross of Warsaw, said they aren't sure whether the restaurant will be rebuilt. "We don't have a clue," Gene Gross said this morning.
Blue Coyote Grill & Cantina opened in April 1998 at the Ind. 15 location that formerly housed Wolfgang's Restaurant from 1981-1997. Prior to Wolfgang's, the business operated as Club Oasis and, for a time, as Thaddeus Restaurant, according to Michelle Borman, who recently published a book on Warsaw history.
A Warsaw Fire Department official said it took firefighters about 1-1/2 hours to get the blaze under control. However, the efforts were futile because the destruction was extensive, especially after the building's roof collapsed. Officials hope to pinpoint both the cause and the location the fire began during their ongoing investigation.
There was little threat to neighboring businesses, including a gas station, because the cement block kept a lot of the heat inside, according to Kerry Stogsdill of the WFD.
During the peak of the firefighting efforts, Ind. 15 was shut down to all traffic. Firefighters were on the scene until after 11 a.m. extinguishing hot spots, and investigators were still at the scene this morning working to determine a cause.
Gene Gross said he and his wife arrived at the scene after being called shortly after the fire was discovered. He said it was frustrating to watch the efforts of the fire department because of a problem with water pressure in the area.
WFD Chief Matt Warren declined to comment on the water issue, other than to say the problem didn't hamper the initial firefighting efforts.
"We had water," Warren said, "just not what we thought was adequate."
All in all, Gross said, he felt the fire department did a good job with what they were dealing with.
The fire remains under investigation by the WFD, the Warsaw Police Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. A spokesman with the ATF said the fire department asked for assistance from the agency's certified fire inspector in determining cause and origin in the fire.
