PIKESVILLE, Md. — The fire engines rolled up on the site of Jilly’s Bar & Grill much as they had in late October when the restaurant went up in flames.
Owners Kathie and Scott Reich have returned to sift through the ashes.
“I cannot get over the outpouring of text messages, Facebook, emails, phone calls,” said Kathie Reich. “I can’t imagine thanking these people these people enough for everything they’ve done.”
The same firefighters from the same shift that night have returned to support the community.
While police have charged a man with setting the fire, Jilly’s loss reminds its neighbors of the need to be prepared.
RELATED: Pikesville man charged in connection to fire at Jilly’s Bar and Grill
“There’s a lot of questions on what took place. How can I make my home or business safer?” said Lt. Travis Francis of the Baltimore County Fire Department. “So our whole purpose today is to get out here and support this community, support Jilly’s and their rebuilding efforts and really just educate everyone on what they can do to be safe.”
And it’s a time to heal.
“You guys put all the man power you possibly could on to that,” one homeowner told the firefighters.
Offers of temporary employment are helping to sustain Jilly’s two dozen workers who lost their jobs to the fire, and a Gofundme page and tee-shirt sales through Custom Ink have brought in tens of thousands of dollars to help sustain them, as the owners eye the damage and the long road back to rebuild.
“Just see what really is lost---the inventory and things like that we’ve lost,” said Reich. “but luckily, we didn’t lose any lives and it can be rebuilt and that’s what we intend to do.”
