Melissa Bailey Photo
Vito Bonanno was making sandwiches Thursday afternoon when he got a call: For the second time in four years, there were flames leaping up on Center Street.
Bonanno, who owns Vito’s Deli at 37 Center St., got the call at 2:30 p.m.
His wife, Jo-Ann, said they were working at the counter when “we had somebody call us up and say there was a fire on Center Street.”
Vito and his brother went outside and saw flames on the roof of the building that houses the deli, she said.
It was a flashback to Dec. 12, 2007, when a fire at the Brass Monkey club two doors down ended up ravishing most of a city block.
Vito’s Deli sits in one of the buildings the fire department saved that day, recalled Fire Chief Michael Grant.
On Thursday, the department saved the building again.
It turned out to be a much more minor blaze, Grant said. The fire came in as a two-alarm blaze, Grant said, mostly because it took place in a congested part of downtown. Forty firefighters showed up at the scene.
Firefighters climbed on the fourth-story roof of the historic building and found a small fire. They quickly put it out, Grant said.
Medics wheeled out stretchers in case of injury, but no one had to use them.
“The guys did a good job,” he said. People in the building left the building with no injuries.
Mayor John DeStefano stops by to see if Vito’s was OK.
There is no known cause to the fire yet, Grant said. The fire appears to have started in a bathroom or utility room and traveled up the walls into the ceiling.
“I had some roofers up there. What went on, I don’t know,” said Vito Bonanno.
The damage was minor, and was contained to the roof, according to Grant.
The deli should emerge unscathed, he said.
“They’ll be able to open back up when we’re out of here.”
Firefighters unscrewed pressurized air packs after tackling the blaze.
Vitos is the best. Like the Mets.