Owner Hopes To Have Joe Momma's Reopened Quickly After Fire

Tulsa firefighters still are assessing damage and trying to pinpoint the cause of a fire at Joe Momma's Pizza in downtown Tulsa.

Owner and city councilor Blake Ewing said he’s trying to figure out what is next.

"We're all a family, we all know each other really well,” shift manager Rachel Miles said. “And it was just kind of heartbreaking for us to see this."

And many members of that family, current and past employees, showed up Wednesday morning to see what had happened to their restaurant, on Elgin, between First and Second Streets.

7/8/2015 Related Story: Fire Damages Downtown Tulsa Pizza Restaurant

The Tulsa Fire Department got the call around 7 a.m., and after putting out the fire, which they believe started in the back of the building, crews opened several doors to air out the space.

By airing it out, firefighters said that prevented permanent smoke damage to the attached businesses, Boomtown Tees, The Max and White Flag.

City councilor Blake Ewing owns them all.

"The biggest thing is that I've got a bunch of employees that count on this for their day to day income,” Ewing said. “People who wait tables for a living gotta have tables to wait, or else they're not paying the bills. The quicker we can get back open... it's more for those folks than anybody else."

Employees like Rachel Miles, who was supposed to lead her morning shift team today.

"It's going to be a hard road for all of us to come back together, but we definitely want to see this turn around,” Miles said.

Ewing doesn't know exactly when he'll reopen, but he hopes to soon.

Until then, he says he's going to try to move employees around to his other businesses until Joe Momma's reopens.