Dearborn firefighters work to put out a fire on the roof of the Shatila Bakery corporate building Oct. 24.
By ZEINAB NAJM
Times-Herald Newspapers
DEARBORN — A fire left major damage to the Shatila Bakery corporate offices, 8505 W. Warren Ave., Oct. 24 where some of the sweets are manufactured for stores and also shipped to customers.
The Fire Department received a call about 2:30 a.m. for a fire at the building.
Crews responded and began working on extinguishing the blaze which had a flame showing from the roof upon arrival. They were able to ventilate the back roof by taking a tack line in the building and finding the scene of the fire.
Fire Chief Joseph Murray said the source of the fire was in the commercial oven area where sugar water had been boiling.
Firefighters worked until 5 a.m. to put out the fire.
Murray said crews did a “great job” to contain the fire and keep it from escalating, for its size and how long it had been burning. He also said there was extensive damage as a result, but that the building is not a total loss.
A call to Shatila for comment on the impact the fire will have on the business and inventory was not returned by press time.
Shatila was founded by the late Riad Shatila in 1979 with a small retail establishment on Warren before moving into a larger building on Schaefer Road. He then opened the corporate location.
In 2000, Riad Shatila expanded to the current bakery located at 14300 W. Warren Ave., selling a variety of authentic Mediterranean sweets, according to the bakery’s website.
(Zeinab Najm can be reached at [email protected])