Gas ruled out as cause of Nu-Way blaze

Macon-Bibb County fire investigators were back on Cotton Avenue on Monday morning searching through charred remnants of Nu-Way Weiners looking for the cause of the fire that gutted most of the building.

A representative of Atlanta Gas Light inspected the ruins and determined natural gas did not play a role in the fire, said Macon-Bibb County Fire Department investigator Steven Wesson.

At about 3 a.m. Friday, the first firefighters into the building came in through the front of the restaurant and traveled all the way to the rear loading deck with “no fire showing, just smoke,” Wesson said.

They quickly determined the blaze was in the ceiling of the large food preparation area that had small overhead lofts but no official second floor.

“The fire was above their heads in the prepping area,” Wesson said.

Within about 20 minutes, the flames tore through the roof, which was then in danger of collapse.

Firefighters retreated to the outside of the building where they continually poured water on the burning building from two aerial ladders.

At this point, investigators believe it was an accidental electrical fire that began in or near the ceiling.

“It’s going to take an electrical engineer either to rule out electricity as a cause, or definitively say it is electrical,” Wesson said.

The flames never made it into the restaurant, but the ceiling and roof collapsed on top of it.

Macon-Bibb’s fire investigators anticipated bringing in an engineer and other insurance investigators Tuesday to examine the building that housed four store fronts.

They will likely pull off some boards to look deeper into the building to trace the root cause of the fire.

Nu-Way owners Jim Cacavias and Spyros Dermatas walked the property Monday morning with an insurance company investigator who flew in from Connecticut.

Once their claim is settled, the businessmen will begin planning to rebuild the iconic restaurant that will turn 100 years old in February.

Next door, Servpro workers were tearing out sheet rock and carpet at the law offices of Spivey, Pope, Green & Greer LLC.

Crews had Cotton Avenue blocked as they worked to repair smoke and water damage to the offices, which could take up to six months, said firm receptionist Donna Johnson.

In the interim, the lawyers have moved to temporary offices at 4931 Riverside Drive, Suite 200-B, which is across from the Shoppes at River Crossing.

“We are up and going, totally,” Johnson said. “They worked all weekend on the computer and phone lines.”

To contact writer Liz Fabian, call 744-4303.

This story was originally published March 16, 2015 at 1:01 PM with the headline "Gas ruled out as cause of Nu-Way blaze ."