Two Seattle businesses shutdown after early morning fire

SEATTLE — Two Seattle businesses are shut down after a fire ripped through the building they share on Nickerson Street at the north end of Interbay.

Ladro Roasters and Rooftop Brewing burned early Tuesday morning, the fire did appear to be mostly in the interior but a garage-style door on the building looked like it was carved open to allow firefighters to get in, and get to the fire.

Jack Kelly arrived on the scene, he’s the Owner of Ladro Roasters, and was at a brief loss for words when looking at the damage, “gutted -- this is devastating, It’s the worst thing that could happen.”

For years Kelly has had his roastery near the Ballard Bridge but early this morning a fire torched his roastery burning his business.

Firefighters were called out around 1:30 a.m. and realized two businesses were burning. Kelly said it looked like the fire started inside -- now both Ladro and Rooftop Brewer Co. are closed because they don’t have power, “started in the roaster, somewhere up in the stacks, somehow embers in there -- we were here til 11:30 at night nothing was out of the ordinary.”

The owners and staff of Rooftop Brewing joined Kelly this morning to assess the damage.

The rooftop’s owner told me they’re closed for the time as they try to figure out how to save the beer they’ve already brewed.

Kelly said he lost a great deal of his coffee stock and may have to get help from Seattle’s coffee community -- but he is confident he will be roasting again, “we’re going to try and stay open obviously …we’re going to hopefully be borrowing other people’s roasters any way we can.”

Seattle Fire took several hours to put out the flames and douse hot spots, there were no injuries and it didn’t look like anyone was in the building at the time of the fire.

Both businesses have vowed to rebuild and reopen -- both are staples in the area, so Kelly is hoping customers and the greater community can support them in their time of need, “we’re all in the same boat trying to figure out what we can save … it’s going to be a long time til we’re roasting here again.”

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