Overheated pizza oven sparked Rosebud fire
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com November 19, 2012 11:30PM
Naperville firefighters respond to the scene at Rosebud Restaurant, 22 E. Chicago, in downtown Naperville, on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media
Updated: December 22, 2012 6:19AM
An overheated pizza oven has been cited as the cause of a fire that did an estimated $100,000 damage last week to a popular restaurant in downtown Naperville.
Deputy Naperville Fire Department Chief Rick Sander on Monday confirmed the excessively hot oven sparked the blaze at Rosebud Italian Specialties & Pizzeria, 22 E. Chicago Ave.
Sander said the fire apparently followed placement of a customer’s lunch order, reportedly a large-size pizza.
A firefighter suffered a minor injury as he and others battled the blaze, which erupted shortly before noon Thursday. A restaurant employee or customer called 911 after smelling smoke in the building.
Firefighters hoisted ladders and discovered flames in the roof. They spent a total of 45 minutes extinguishing the blaze, snuffing the flames hidden within the roof’s covering and conducting overhaul and cleanup operations.
An unspecified number of Rosebud patrons and employees got out of the building safely. None of them were injured.
A building inspector from the city’s Transportation, Engineering & Development Business Group deemed the restaurant uninhabitable until repairs could be made to the roof. That work was completed within three hours, and Rosebud reopened for business around 4 p.m. Thursday.
Rosebud moved to East Chicago Avenue following a July 11, 2010 fire that severely damaged its longtime location at 48 W. Chicago Ave., less than a block to the west.
Members of the Naperville Fire Investigations Team, consisting of specially trained firefighters and police officers, in 2010 concluded the cause of that blaze was also accidental, with the fire likely starting in “one or more of the commercial kitchen appliances.”
Sixty firefighters from Naperville and 14 area fire agencies spent several hours quelling that blaze. Two dozen lunchtime customers and employees escaped the fire uninjured.
The building was constructed shortly after the Civil War. It was originally built as a community creamery, and in later years served as a creamery for Cock Robin/Prince Castle ice cream, a car dealership showroom, legal offices and two other restaurants.
It was rebuilt following the fire, but remains vacant.
