Pepino's Italian Restaurant In Walled Lake Destroyed By Fire; 'It's Like A Bad Dream'
WALLED LAKE (WWJ) - A 30-year-old family-owned restaurant in Walled Lake went up in flames Monday afternoon.
Police told WWJ Newsradio 950 that all hands were on deck to fight the blaze at Pepino's Italian restaurant on Pontiac Trail at Walled Lake Road.
Cathy Bernardi, who owns the place along with her sister, believes the restaurant is a total loss.
She said she can't quite wrap her head around what has happened.
"It feels like part of our life is going down... Memories, my mom, my dad, all the people who worked with us that have passed away," she said. "We were just talking about that part. It's like a bad dream."
The restaurant is closed on Mondays, no one was inside, and no one was hurt.
Walled Lake Police Chief Paul Shakinas said they started getting 911 calls at around 3 p.m., when the building was already fully engulfed.
"They're just doing the best they can to just knock it down," Shakinas said at 5:30 p.m.. "They've been fighting it from the outside because it was way too hot to go in."
Thick smoke filled the air as firefighters continued to work into the early evening.
"It looks pretty eerie," reported WWJ's Sandra McNeill. "You've got a lot of goldy-gray smoke, and in fact it's sending a haze over the area all the way up to Maple...Every once in a while you see flames shooting back through the roof."
A staple in the community since 1984, Pepino's is special to many local residents, including Debbie Swolfs.
"It looks really bad...I don't think there's much left," she said. "Pepino's was known for their prime rib. They had excellent food, and it's really sad that it looks like it's gone."
Pontiac Trail was shut down from Walled Lake to Maple to keep motorists away from the scene.
Bernardi, who has no idea what might have caused the fire, said the building was a century old and there are things inside that can't be replaced.
Nonetheless, she said, she and her sister hope to rebuild.
"Our employees are our family. We've all been together for many, many years," Bernardi said. "This is our life and we're not ready to let it go."
