WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — On Sunday, a well-known South Carolina barbecue restaurant with multiple locations in the region said it was heartbroken to see a portion of its headquarters burn to the ground and acknowledged the long road ahead.
Maurice's Piggy Park confirmed that a fire at its Charleston Highway headquarters the night before destroyed its barbecue pits, food preparation and processing plant facilities and offices. The restaurant described them as "completely gone."
The three-alarm fire led to a massive emergency response involving about 50 firefighters from several area departments.
"BBQ restaurants are uniquely susceptible to fire loss," the restaurant's statement said. "We hear this way too often in our tight BBQ community, and it is heartbreaking to see these 69 years of hard work and generations of memories at this location burned to the ground."
The statement added that they prepared all the meat at the barbecue pits and acknowledged an "unbelievable mountain to climb ahead."
The message thanked God that no one was hurt, that the restaurant sign was safe and that firefighters were able to rescue the American flag from the location. They also thanked the firefighters who stayed at the scene for hours, bringing the fire under control and monitoring hotspots and a driver at Columbia Auto Recovery and Towing who saw the fire as he was driving by and saved most of their delivery and food trucks by moving them across the street from the flames.
Officials also said the restaurant itself was not damaged. However, the impact of the fire will be felt for some time at this location and elsewhere.
"Our Charleston Hwy restaurant is closed today, but the other locations across the Midlands will be open today until food runs out," the company said. "We plan for all our restaurants to be closed Monday until further notice."
For now, the restaurant's representatives said they will be "taking it day by day" as they decide how to move forward and rebuild.
"For anyone who knows our family, knows we won’t give up and will work endlessly to do what we need to do to continue the BBQ legacy and support our 150 employees and community we love dearly," the restaurant's announcement said.
West Columbia Fire Chief Marquis Solomon said on Saturday that an investigation into the cause of the fire would begin soon after it was extinguished.