Owner left with rubble after restaurant fire in Attleboro

ATTLEBORO, Mass. (WLNE) — Flames tore through an Attleboro restaurant overnight and destroyed nearly everything inside.

The inside of El Buen Sazon was in ruins, after co-owner Delmy Amaya said the restaurant had opened only months ago.

“We did a lot of hard work, with my husband, my comadres, and my compadres,” Amaya said. “We did a lot of work and then this happened.”

Attleboro Fire District Chief Steve Stellakis said the alarm rang out around 1:30 a.m., and firefighters rushed to Pine Street to find flames shooting through the building’s roof.

“Once you’ve lost the integrity of the roof you also lose the integrity of load-bearing walls and the structure becomes really unstable,” Stellakis said.

Crews had no choice but to pull out and let the building burn from inside, something Stellakis said takes extraordinary discipline.

“A lot of firefighters would want to stay [inside], say ‘We’ve got this, we can do it,'” Stellakis said. “But when they heard the airhorns, they heard the immediate withdrawal from the building, they all got out and they all got out safely.”

The roof did end up collapsing, and the next day rubble could be seen in what was once a bright and lively dining room.

Officials said they believed the fire started in the basement of the building, which was expected to be a total loss.

“It’s a horrible situation for them to be in,” Stellakis said. “But fortunately no one got hurt, so we can take some solace in that.”

The family has started a fundraiser to help rebuild the restaurant.