What caused a fire that destroyed a building near Twelve Corners in Brighton overnight is not likely to be determined for some time, officials said, if at all.
The extent of damage from a blaze that burned for hours could make it difficult to trace the fire back to its origins.
Nobody was injured.
Firefighters responded at 9 p.m. Tuesday to multiple reports of smoke coming from the Monroe Avenue building housing Brownstein’s Bagel Bakery and, formerly, Ken’s Pizza Corner.
Crews from multiple area departments soon joined in and battled the blaze well into the night – shutting down traffic through the area and drawing scores of onlookers.
“Part of the roof had collapsed, so we had to pull that apart to get water underneath the area,” said Brighton Deputy Fire Chief Ted Aroesty.
“The last fire crews left about five o'clock this morning,” he said. “Due to the nature of the fire being up in the roof area, we had to bring some heavy equipment in to assist with knocking part of the building down, so we could get access to certain areas and wet that down.”
The building is considered a total loss. Nobody was injured.
Brownstein's has operated at the location for nearly four decades, but in recent years has offered strictly curbside service on Friday and Sunday mornings, posted a message to its website about the “catastrophic fire” that read, in part:
“While we are still awaiting more details from the authorities and have not yet inspected the interior damage, we are relieved that it appears no one was injured in the incident. Regardless, we will be unable to open for retail or wholesale and must begin determining whether we will ever resume normal operations.”
