ATLANTA — A downtown Atlanta restaurant heavily damaged Sunday morning after a fire ripped through the building eventually spread next door to another restaurant.
Now, the community is rallying together.
Fire trucks lined Peters Street, S.W., in the Castleberry Hill neighborhood on a day that workers at 255 Tapas Lounge would normally be preparing to open.
But the fire prevented that from happening.
"I called 911 immediately," said Carolyn Carr. "I called the second I saw the flames."
Carolyn Carr lives next door to Tapas. She said she saw the flames from her window, then bolted out.
"There was a trigger in a sense, of making sure that everyone was okay," she said. "Getting everyone - my family - out of the house and running out to make sure any employees next door were okay."
Luckily, no one was hurt.
Firefighters said when they arrived, crews noticed the flames had also spread to an adjacent restaurant, The Pearl Restaurant and Lounge. Investigators said they believe it started at Tapas.
Drone video taken by a neighbor showed damage to both eateries and that the roof had caved in.
This is not the first time the neighborhood has had to rebuild.
Two years ago, the roof of the building on the opposite side of Tapas - which was Blu Cantina Lounge - collapsed on people inside dining.
"There was like a foot-and-a-half of water inside," said someone who had been caught in the Blu Cantina cave-in in 2017. "We were crawling through water."
About 30 people were inside. Six were hurt.
"It is unfortunate to see some of these historic properties fail," Carr said.
She said the community has now come together to help the roughly 50 employees who are now without a job, find work.
"We always come back better," she said. "And we're so grateful for everyone that has come out to help and get the word out."
Right now, investigators have not determined the exact cause of the fire.
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