‘We’ll overcome’: Las Vegas barbecue restaurant recovering from fire

Owner Chuck Frommer said when he came in early to the restaurant, at 3730 Thom Blvd. near North Decatur Boulevard and West Gowan Road, at around 4 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 22, he saw the back of his restaurant, including his brand-new freezer that he had purchased just three days earlier, engulfed in 40-foot flames.

“A smoker just blew up,” he said. “Just out of the blue, it just shot up this big ball of flames, and then 20 minutes later, it shot up another ball of flame and erupted more.”

Frommer said he and his staff started fighting the fire themselves with hoses. They wondered why firefighters were taking so long to show up, until he realized that no one ever called 911 for help.

“Everybody in the room thought that somebody else had called 911, but nobody ever dialed 911,” he said. “So, literally, we just put the fire out by ourselves.”

Frommer said the fire cost his business $125,000 in lost product, and will need to replace his destroyed freezer and other barbecuing equipment.

Still, Frommer said he’s ultimately grateful that no one was hurt.

“We were fortunate it happened at night and not during the day, because, had it happened during the day, there would have probably been some injuries,” he said.

After the fire was put out, Frommer, who has run his family’s business for 43 years, said community members came to help clean up the mess left from the fire, working around the clock for days to clean up fire debris.

“We had the mess cleaned up in two days … and it was all because of just friends and neighbors,” he said.

Frommer said he isn’t accepting donations, but hopes the community will continue to support him on a regular basis to keep his family’s 70-year-old business, which is listed on the City of Las Vegas’ Historic Property Register, going.

“It’s just a challenge, and we’ll overcome,” Frommer said

Contact Taylor Lane at tlane@reviewjournal.com.