Burned but not broken

Fire brings flood of Chico’s memories

Salon Envy also destroyed, but other businesses survive

By CHERYL SCHWEIZER

Staff Writer

MOSES LAKE — It was Saturday night, about 6:30 p.m., and Tony Gonzalez said his phone started going crazy.

People “called me right away. They were calling me left and right,” Gonzalez said, and it was bad news. Gonzalez is owner of Moses Lake Music, and his shop is in the same strip mall as Chico’s Pizza, the longtime Moses Lake landmark.

Chico’s was a complete loss in the spectacular fire that kept firefighters on scene all night. The fire also destroyed Salon Envy, the adjoining hairstyling salon. Other businesses in the same complex survived the fire.

“I expect the damage will keep us closed for the foreseeable future,” wrote Chico’s owner Mitch Zornes on the restaurant’s social media Saturday night. “We will be open as soon as repairs are finished.”

“Our salon has burned down!” according to Salon Envy’s Facebook post. “Please pray for all of us as we piece back together our livelihoods. We will come back stronger than ever!”

All customers and staff at Chico’s escaped without injury. One firefighter cut his hand, said Derek Beach, Moses Lake fire marshal.

Toby Black is the owner of FX Dance Studio, and director of the upcoming Basin Community Theatre production of “My Fair Lady.” Cast members were rehearsing in the dance studio. “One of the workers came in and told us there was a fire,” Black said, and the cast went out to take a look.

“At that point it was just a puff. A little puff of smoke,” Black said. It didn’t stay that way.

The fire started in the top space of a pizza oven, Beach said. The oven was an older model and lacked a fire suppression system in the hood, he said.

The building’s design saved the rest of the mall, Beach said. The building’s concrete and brick firewalls extended through the roof, keeping the fire contained to the area between two firewalls, Beach said.

“What saved us is that every one of these buildings has a firebreak in it," Gonzalez said. He was allowed into his business Saturday night to pick up some items in the back shop that couldn’t be replaced if they were damaged, he said.

Black’s business also escaped damage, but on Saturday night he had to decide what to take and what to leave behind if the fire did spread, he said. In the end it didn’t come to that.

Firefighters were on the scene until 5 a.m. Sunday, and a maintenance crew stayed to watch until about 4 p.m. At the fire’s height there were 30 to 40 firefighters battling the blaze, Beach said.

Chico’s is a Moses Lake institution, dating back to the early 1960s. Mel Zornes opened it as the Cascade Dine & Dance, remembered his son Dave Zornes. Dave shared his memories in a post on CBH social media.

“When the water table raised and West Lake was forced to move, that’s when it was moved to Vista Village,” Dave Zornes wrote. “That started in 1970 and opened in 1971.”

Mel Zornes was ill and hospitalized through most of that move, Dave Zornes wrote. “After my dad passed away, my brother Dick bought the business and then later passed it along to my nephew Mitch. Chico’s is truly a family business for over 50 years.”

Chico’s was famous for the piles of toppings on its pizzas, and dozens of those pictures were posted on social media.

“Best pizza ever,” wrote NikieAnn Mandelas Smith.

Chico’s hosted birthday parties, graduation parties, family parties, as the pictures on social media demonstrate. Generations of Moses Lake kids worked a summer, or a couple of summers. “Not only growing up with it, but devoting some of our most important years from high school up working there, building longtime memories and friendships,” wrote Holli Blazer. “God, the stories some of us have.”

“Looking forward to walking through the doors of a new, bigger, better Chico’s,” wrote Dan Ellstad.

Moses Lake firefighters were assisted by crews from Grant County fire districts No. 4 (Warden), No. 5 (Moses Lake) and the Ephrata Fire Department.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.