Restaurant destroyed by fire

WEST JORDAN — It was a restaurant that rarely bought any advertising, but some considered it a landmark.

The customers were loyal, and the restaurant's reputation was kept alive by word-of-mouth.

Rather than, "Can I take your order?" it was more common for an employee to greet a customer by their first name and ask, "Are you having your usual?"

Employees at Jim's Family Restaurant, 7609 S. Redwood Road, closed the eatery at 10 p.m. Wednesday and had the building locked up and everyone out by 10:30 p.m. Employees returned to the restaurant Thursday morning, but all there was to do was stare at the rubble and wait to see if anything inside was salvageable.

A three-alarm fire ripped through the restaurant early Thursday, causing an estimated $1.5 million in damage. Fire crews considered the building a total loss.

There were some tense moments while fighting the blaze when the roof partially collapsed on six firefighters.

"It knocked off some helmets and knocked them to the ground," said West Jordan Fire Battalion Chief Reed Scharman.

Immediately the "Mayday" call went out. The room filled with thick smoke. Fortunately, no firefighters were pinned and there was another group of four already in the structure. Those firefighters helped the others off the floor and led them out of the building, Scharman said. No one suffered any serious injuries.

By the time firefighters were out, flames had started to poke through the roof, Scharman said. Firefighters went into a defensive mode, meaning all they could do was pour water on the restaurant from the outside and prevent it from spreading to other structures.

Fire crews originally received the call just before midnight Wednesday of light smoke coming from the roof. When crews arrived, they found the space between the tile ceiling and the roof filled with smoke, Scharman said. As firefighters started pulling tiles off the ceiling to fight the blaze, part of the ceiling collapsed on them.

Owner Chris Tzakis was called and arrived at his business about 12:30 a.m.

"I really couldn't believe it. It was surreal," he said. "Whenever you spend so much time and your sweat … I spent more time here than with my wife. I think she's jealous of this place."

Tzakis owns two Jim's Family Restaurant franchises. The one that burned, he said, was his most successful.

"It was a West Jordan landmark," he said. "To see it now, this morning, that's when it really hit me."

The restaurant was in that building for about the past seven years, Tzakis said. But the building itself, which has housed several restaurants, has been there for more than 25 years, according to firefighters.