PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Thursday marks one month since Social Gastropub in Perrysburg caught fire. Investigators are still working to determine what started the fire that burned the restaurant to the ground.
The state fire marshal has cleared the land and finished the physical inspection portion of their investigation. However, the investigation is still not complete and investigators continue to conduct interviews and go through other follow up stages.
The city of Perrysburg is out of the mix at this time. A representative from the city said it is the owners' responsibility for what happens next with what's left of the former location.
While the cause of the fire has yet to be determined, investigators believe it started outside the building. The fire left many employees without a job. Area restaurants organized different fundraising efforts for employees and a GoFundMe that supposedly is going to Social's former workers has raised more than $10,000.
Former Social employee Anna Stallard said it’s still shocking to drive by and see the restaurant in shambles.
“We are super thankful for all the restaurants and the people in the community who have done it. It’s very much appreciated," Stallard said.
Many former employees of the Perrysburg restaurant have gotten jobs at other area restaurants. While no one has yet received any money from the GoFundMe that was set up for them, they expect they will soon and are incredibly grateful for the support many community members and neighboring restaurants have shown them.
Alyssa Connors worked at Social but was not there when the fire started. However, many of her fellow coworkers were there at the time, and worked to clear the building.
“The people who were there the day of the fire started sending pictures," Connors said. "It started with a picture of the outside fire. And then we got to watch it escalate throughout different videos and stuff people were sending. And we were both kind of like in shock and we didn’t think it was gonna completely burn down."
WTOL 11 reached out to the owner of Social, Bruce Gradkowski about what's next for the restaurant. We are still waiting to hear back from him.