Ricky’s Drive-In hit hard by early morning blaze

Jul. 24--When Floyd Elliott saw the firetrucks outside his beloved Ricky's Drive-In Wednesday morning, he felt his stomach drop.

"There was just this numbing feeling," Elliott, the Drive-In's owner, said. "Because you're heading to work thinking everything is fine and then it comes into view and there're just trucks everywhere. That was not a good moment."

Elliott's iconic hot dog restaurant was badly damaged by fire Wednesday morning, according to Spartanburg Fire Marshal Will Smart.

Crews from at least four agencies arrived at the scene just after 4 a.m. Wednesday to deal with the blaze at 307 Union St.

"Crews got there just a few minutes after and found fire up in the attic space and coming out on one of the eaves," Smart said Wednesday.

So far, the investigation has found that the fire started in the kitchen in or near an electrical closet.

"There were some miscellaneous storage and some other combustibles right there, but it's still under investigation," Smart said.

No one was hurt or injured in the fire, Smart said, though the diner will be closed as it undergoes extensive repairs.

What comes next is an open question, Elliott said. He's owned the diner since he purchased it from its previous owner, Ricky Clayton, nearly 15 years ago.

He was working as a stockbroker at the time, but had always said if Ricky's were ever to hit the market, he was calling dibs.

"One day he came by my office and said, 'Boys are you ready?' Elliott said. "He said he was selling the business, and I didn't think he was serious at first, but that's how I got into it."

Elliott said it's now a process with insurance adjusters to determine whether the building can be salvaged or he needs to demolish the eatery and begin anew.

"I could see it going both ways, but the interior is just black or soaked in water," Elliott said. "There's a hole over here on this side and in the roof too, that's a little harder to see."

But he's not planning on throwing in the towel. He said local real estate agents have already reached out, promising to help him find a location to get the hot dog diner back in action at a temporary site.

"To me that's the important thing," Elliott said. "This is my livelihood, sure, but we have other people who count on this place opening up every day. My manager has been here for 18 years, and others who have been here for years and years. So we've got to get going again for them."

He said the co-owner of Delaney's Irish Pub Kevin Moore also came through for Elliott in a big way this morning. Elliott said he'd just received his weekly shipment from food vendor Sysco.

It was frozen and waiting to be cooked for the week's orders, but the blaze and subsequent power loss meant Elliott and company would likely lose the entire order, until Moore came to the rescue.

"He came by and helped me load everything up so it wouldn't go to waste," Elliott said. "That's huge for us, and I can't thank him enough."

___

(c)2019 the Spartanburg Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, S.C.)

Visit the Spartanburg Herald-Journal (Spartanburg, S.C.) at www.GoUpstate.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.