It has to be one of the worst ways possible to wake up on a snowy winter morning — the smell of smoke and the sounds of sirens. That’s what Hagar Township Supervisor Izzy DiMaggio was confronted with this morning, Wednesday, February 20, 2019, when his family’s wildly popular pizzeria was hit by fire in the pre-dawn hours.
The manner in which word spread this morning about a fire at DiMaggio’s Pizza in Hagar Shores is testimony to the extreme popularity of the long-running pizzeria, which has been in business for 62 years at the same location. Sadly those hard core fans are going to be without their DiMaggio’s fix for at least two months or longer.
DiMaggio says it was about 6:15 this morning when, “Apparently somebody passing by fortunately saw the smoke and called 911, then I could smell it and the fire department did an incredible job.”
DiMaggio says, “We had our North Berrien Fire Rescue Department on the scene. They sent about two trucks, Benton Charter Township sent a truck, Covert Township sent a couple of trucks so there were about five or six fire trucks on the scene. They put it out real quickly, but there’s pretty extensive damage on the inside.”
Early speculation was that the fire had started in the restaurant’s kitchen, however Izzy says, “It was actually in the south end of the bar area of the restaurant.” As I talked with him around 10am this morning, DiMaggio noted, “The Fire Marshal is here now, and we’re fortunate in that we have a fire marshal that is in our own department at North Berrien Fire Rescue. He’s still here now and hopefully we’ll have a report if not by the end of the day, probably tomorrow. He appears to think it might be some sort of electrical problem.”
Obviously being at the very early stages of the investigation and review of damages, Izzy wasn’t certain as to how long the pizzeria would be out of commission. He says, “We’ve got insurance and will get the adjuster here, and get the clean up crew here first, that’ll take two to three weeks, then a complete remodeling, obviously, to redo the whole inside, could take another three to four weeks, so it’ll be a minimum of two months probably if everything goes well.”
DiMaggio’s has been a favorite pizza joint and watering hole for decades, launched 62 years ago and still operating in the same colorful place just off the crossroads of M-63, Blue Star Highway and Hagar Shore Road, and within a stone’s throw from I-196. Facebook fans were deeply worried early on, unsure of the extent of the flames. Izzy says, “I’ve got two buddies, one’s in Florida, one’s in Texas for the winter and they both called me immediately. People have been calling in, family members, Chicago people, you know it’s been a big resort area here for Chicago people for years and years, so yeah, we’re getting phone calls and texts and all.”
Foruntely, nobody was hurt in the fire and Izzy promises, “We’ll fix it up…we’re not going anywhere! We will re-open, it will just take a little time. You know all the thousands and thousands of customers have become like family now, so we’ll re-open, it’ll just take some time but we appreciate all of their thoughts and comments, too.”
North Berrien Fire & Rescue Chief Mike Mattix confirms that there is heavy heat and smoke damage throughout the restaurant and the investigation will continue. Stay tuned.
The photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market is courtesy of Mike Arney from WSJM News.
