Thanksgiving 2001 left little for Mississippi State University students to be thankful for after Flo & Eddie’s restaurant burned down during early morning hours. At a little past 2:30 a.m. Nov. 22, Flo & Eddie’s was engulfed in flames from what appears to be a naturally caused fire originating between the ceiling of the basement and the first floor.
“Our entire shift of 15 firefighters was on the scene within three minutes of the 911 call,” Fire Chief William Grantham said.
Grantham said he monitored the fire off-site at his home as his men attacked the flames at the front entrance of the building. Then the firefighters entered to find a “spongy floor.” Grantham said the floor was unsafe, making rescuing the building almost impossible.
“This was definitely not arson,” said Kevin Cane, who is investigating the fire for the Fire Department. “The age of the house and the situation the house was in with no fire stops (pieces of wood nailed between two other pieces of wood to slow the burning process), and the fact that it (the house) was old pine made it like a match being thrown in a matchbox.”
Cane said the fire could have started before the restaurant closed nearly an hour before the 911 call.
“They (restaurant workers) might not have even known if it was burning because of the wood burning cooker they used for barbecuing,” Cane said. “The smell of burning wood could have blended in.”
Cane said he and an investigator for James Finley’s Flo & Eddie’s restaurant both agree that the fire originated between the basement ceiling and the first floor and was caused by natural events, although neither investigator know the actual cause.
The old age of the house was not the only obstacle Starkville firefighters had to overcome.
“The way the building was, it was difficult to get into because of all the renovations,” Grantham said.
Grantham said the Fire Department does annual fire-hazard checks for all commercial buildings in Starkville, but he is not sure whether the building has been rewired. Grantham said Roger Mann, who handles that aspect of work for the Fire Department, is out of town and unavailable for comment.
“If an old building like that is not rewired, you can run into trouble,” Cane said.
Flo & Eddie’s owner James Finley could not be reached for comment. Cane said that wiring has not been ruled as the culprit, but it has not been ruled out. Cane said determining the cause of fires is difficult and varies because “no fires are the same.”
“It just ruined my Thanksgiving,” Emily Jones, the home’s second owner, said.
Jones said the house she called home from 1975 to 1981 was a treasure she raised her children in, and she was not ready to see it go.
Jones rented out the house when she and her family moved from Starkville. Thinking they would not return to Starkville, Jones sold her home to Sigma Nu fraternity in 1988 and then it became a restaurant about seven years ago.
Through those years, many renovations occurred, but it is unclear whether the wiring of the building was ever redone.
Many hungry FLo & Eddie’s fans wonder if the restaurant will be rebuilt where the 1910 structure once stood. Rebuilding the structure may be difficult since the blueprints are probably where Jones remembers last seeing them-in the house’s attic.