Santillo’s Brick Oven Pizza, a revered over 100-year-old pizzeria in Elizabeth, was heavily damaged in a fire Saturday morning that apparently started in the ceiling above the restaurant’s signature brick oven, according to the owner.
The fire was first reported by two residents at around 9:39 a.m., said Ruby Contreras, a spokesperson for the city. First responders were able to get the fire under control but the blaze caused extensive damage to the building, according to officials.
The owner, Al Santillo, said he was in the front of the building in the pizzeria’s kitchen when he first smelled smoke Saturday morning and spotted the fire in the ceiling above the pizza oven.
“You don’t believe how fast the fire could spread,” Santillo said. “The place went up like a box of matches.”
Santillo said he got out of the building and called the Elizabeth Fire Department, which he said arrived quickly.
“The fear always was the dry wood above the oven somehow was going to get to the point where it was smoldering and catch on fire,” Santillo said. “That’s what I was always told happens to these old places.”
City officials said Saturday afternoon that the cause is still under investigation.
