UNITY – An 18-year-old restaurant on state Route 14 was destroyed by fire early Monday.

East Palestine Fire Chief Josh Brown said the fire was called in by several people driving past the Original Roadhouse restaurant around 1:17 a.m. saying they could see heavy smoke and flames.

The department was on the scene within three minutes and Brown said they could see fire shooting out of the roof just above the kitchen and through the windows along the west side of the building, which had shattered due to the force of the heat.

Brown immediately notified Ohio Edison and the restaurant’s gas company to have those services shut off.

The department was assisted by the New Waterford and Negley fire departments, which is part of their mutual aid agreement for all structure fires.

Mutual aid was then requested from the Columbiana, Leetonia, Springfield Township and Beaver Township departments and the Southwest Tanker Task Force, which consists of firefighters from Darlington, Big Beaver, New Galilee, Ohioville and South Beaver Township in Pennsylvania.

The task force provided five tanker engines, Negley provided two, and the rest of the departments each brought one tanker, for a total of 12 battling the blaze.

Brown said during the more than 10-hour effort the tankers took turns getting water from two fill sites located in East Palestine since there were no other water sources available in the “rural setting.” The sites are located at the Covington Nursing Home on Brookdale Avenue and East North Avenue at Market Street.

The restaurant is located at 49522 state Route 14 in Unity Township and is owned by James Kachelries. The actual building itself is owned by David McDevitt and has been there since the 1940s, Brown said.

The restaurant and the building are both insured, he added.

Around 2 a.m., Brown moved firefighters from the interior of the building to the outside to avoid injury due to part of the roof collapsing.

“At that point the risk to firefighters and property conservation was too high. We didn’t allow any firefighters to enter the building,” he said.

He also said the 60 firefighters on scene were also battling the elements, and were put on a rotation to keep warm. Firefighters were allowed to warm up and rest every so often in the ambulances that also responded.

In addition to focusing on the fire, the departments also had to make sure their equipment didn’t freeze in the cold weather, he said.

Outside help consisted of partial closure of state Route 14 in front of the restaurant by the highway patrol and snow and ice removal by an East Palestine salt truck, which provided the salt material for the restaurant property and both fill sites.

The property was cordoned off with crime scene tape later that day and Brown said he notified the state fire marshal’s office due to the fire involving a commercial business.

Brown had already conducted his own investigation prior to calling the state fire marshal and said, “I’m not saying I am suspecting it is arson, but I wanted to cover all bases.”

While the cause of the fire remains under investigation, Brown said it appears to have started in the kitchen area.

Brown said Kachelries told him he had closed the restaurant Sunday night around 8 p.m. and left after doing his own walk through of the building shortly before 10 p.m.

Once the fire broke out, firefighters battled the flames until 4:55 a.m. It wasn’t until shortly after 9 a.m. that the fire was completely extinguished, Brown said.

All crews were back at their stations around 10:45 a.m., Brown said.

kschwendeman@mojonews.com