La Parota Grill, a family-owned and operated Mexican restaurant in Farmville which opened in 2000, caught ablaze on Saturday, Feb. 23. Firefighters from the Farmville, Hampden-Sydney, Rice and Prospect Fire Departments responded to the blaze around 4:50 a.m., according to Chief Bean Sears of the Farmville Fire Department.
Initial arriving units noted a significant blaze on the roof at the rear of the structure that rapidly spread through the restaurant’s attic space. Crews brought the fire under control within 90 minutes of arriving.
“We don't know if we could've done something to prevent it,” said Jay Solorio, one of the partners for La Parota. “We were up to par with everything, the fire inspector had come not too long ago ...everything was fine.”
Solorio said there are plans to get the business back up and running in 60 to 90 days. The partners are determined to get the 10 employees, many of whom are family and depending on their jobs at the restaurant, back to work as soon as possible.
According to Solorio, the landlord of the restaurant’s current 2104 South Main St. property, has not decided what he wants to do with the land.
In order to revive the business in the near future, Solorio said La Parota will most likely relocate. He said the restaurant partners are looking into several properties and are even considering moving closer to the Longwood University campus.
Solorio said the partners will work closely with the fire inspector at their possible new location to ”make sure this doesn't happen to us again.”
The Farmville Fire Department and the Town of Farmville Building Official’s Office are jointly investigating the incident.
As of press time, the Farmville Fire Department had not yet determined the cause of the blaze.
Mexican restaurant La Parota Grill caught fire early Saturday morning, leaving behind only a shell of the building.
