Happy Joe's engulfed by fire in north Muscatine
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Firefighters at this hour are making sure the hot spots are extinguished at Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor, 203 Lake Park Blvd. N., Muscatine, where flames engulfed the kitchen around 7 p.m. today. (MUSCATINE JOURNAL) Buy this Photo
MUSCATINE, Iowa — Firefighters at this hour are making sure the hot spots are extinguished at Happy Joe’s Pizza & Ice Cream Parlor, 203 Lake Park Blvd. N., where flames engulfed the kitchen around 7 p.m. today.
“It came on really fast,” said Brian Trego of Muscatine. He was at Happy Joe’s with his wife, Maegan, and their three children to celebrate the fourth birthday of their youngest daughter, Gretchen.
“It was scary ... The whole room was (filled) with smoke. We had to go out the back door,” Maegan Trego said. “I’m just glad we all got out.”
The building is owned by Betty Brewer of Muscatine, who opened the Happy Joe’s there with her husband, Max, in 1973.
Her grandson, Doug Ricklefs, who has run the business for 15 years, said about 60 people were in the restaurant when his employees noticed the fire.
“Everyone was evacuated,” he said. “No one was hurt.”
The fire was believed to have started on the roof, Ricklefs said, perhaps by the exhaust fan or air conditioning unit.
“It’s too early to tell,” he said.
He said it is also too early to know when he will be able to reopen the restaurant.
“We’ll be open full force at our Southend store to serve the people of Muscatine,” Ricklefs said.
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