photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Flames erupt through the roof of Cielito Lindo, 815 New Hampshire St., on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in downtown Lawrence.

Updated at 4:40 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023

The longtime downtown Lawrence restaurant Cielito Lindo has been destroyed by a fire that began late Wednesday night and burned well into Thursday morning as dozens of firefighters fought to extinguish the blaze and to protect historic buildings.

As the Journal-World’s partner Operation 100 News first reported, police and firefighters arrived shortly after 11:40 p.m. Wednesday and found heavy smoke and fire at the back of 815 New Hampshire St., which is the site of Cielito Lindo.

A firefighter at the scene around 2:15 a.m. Thursday confirmed to the Journal-World that no one had been injured and said crews were in a defensive position trying to keep the fire out of the neighboring building to the north, which is a historic multistory stone building.

“It’s still up in the attic,” a first responder at the scene said, indicating significant fire still burning inside the restaurant. “We’ll be here all night.”

Emergency radio traffic earlier indicated that arriving firefighters found heavy flames just inside the rear door of the building and into the kitchen area on the first floor.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Firefighters work the scene of a fire early Thursday morning at Cielito Restaurant on New Hampshire Street.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Crews work the scene of a large fire Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in the 800 block of New Hampshire Street.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Firefighters work the scene of a fire early Thursday morning at Cielito Restaurant on New Hampshire Street. This view is the south side of the restaurant.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Crews work the scene of a large fire Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in the 800 block of New Hampshire Street.

Smoke from the fire made its way into the stone building next door, which shares a wall with Cielito, triggering a fire alarm. Fire crews searched the building and did not find any flames.

By 1:50 a.m., firefighters had been evacuated from Cielito after flames broke through the roof. Firefighters were then seen battling the flames from aerial ladders, and part of the building’s roof had collapsed.

No one was reported to have been inside the building at the time of the fire.

At about 3:30 a.m. Battalion Chief Brandon Holloman told the Journal-World that crews were still battling the fire, but he was optimistic that the fire could be contained to the Cielito building.

“It is good,” Holloman said of his confidence level to keep the blaze contained, “but you are never 100%. But I think we are doing pretty well at this time.”

Holloman said the building to the north of Cielito Lindo had not suffered significant damage from the fire. He said crews were posted inside the building in an effort to stop the fire from spreading.

Holloman said when fire crews first arrived on the scene, they aggressively fought the fire.

“Crews attempted to attack it,” he said.

But conditions quickly changed, and the decision was made to concentrate on containing the fire so it would not spread to other parts of downtown.

“We had a report of a hole in the floor, and we had a roof collapse, so we backed everyone out and went defensive,” Holloman said.

Holloman said approximately 15 fire apparatuses had been deployed to the scene. Crews from Johnson County fire departments came to Lawrence to staff other fire stations and to help respond to calls while most of Lawrence’s firefighting equipment was in use at the downtown scene, he said.

Holloman did not provide any information about a potential cause of the fire. He said a full investigation would take place once the fire had been extinguished.

“I’m sure we will be here several days conducting an investigation on this,” he said.

The fire was extinguished by 7 a.m. Thursday, according to a news release from the fire department, but crews remained to suppress any remaining hotspots.

One LDCFM firefighter reported a minor injury related to the incident, the release said.

Cielito Lindo, a 5,500-square-foot, two-level Mexican restaurant with a fenced patio, has been in downtown Lawrence since 2006.

It was opened by co-owners Jose “Pepe” Lopez, David Valadez and Dionicio Zaragosa, all natives of Mexico. Before 2006, the building was home to other eateries and nightspots, including Dos Hombres, Raoul’s Velvet Room and EightOneFive.

The building housing Cielito Lindo has been owned by a group called Lawrence 2004 LLC since 2004. A managing member of that group, Jeff Hatfield, spoke with the Journal-World Thursday afternoon. Hatfield called the Cielito business owners “wonderful tenants” who had been in the building for almost as long as Hatfield’s group has owned it. Citing the ongoing investigation, Hatfield limited his comments to a prepared statement:

“First and foremost, it is important to all of us that there was no loss of life and no persons at the place of business were injured during this fire,” Hatfield said in the statement. “We did have a firefighter sustain some injuries, and our ownership group expresses our deepest gratitude and a speedy recovery to the injured firefighter.”

“Secondly,” he said, “the loss of a downtown building to a fire is upsetting to the entire Lawrence community in addition to the loss of a local longtime downtown business owner’s business and their employees’ jobs. Timing is never good for any fire, but this time of the year is really upsetting and overwhelming.”

“Third, I would like to note that we have the best Fire-Medical Department in the Midwest working this scene, and to express our gratitude to the entire fire department, police department and our first responders.”

Late Thursday afternoon, the City of Lawrence indicated that it believed the building was not in imminent danger of additional collapse but it set up safety barricades to protect the public in the busy downtown area.

“The extent of damage and the level of instability of the remaining roof-wall assembly along the west and south exterior walls is currently unknown,” a release from the city stated.

The city noted that the following steps would be taken to ensure public safety:

* Six-foot chain-link fencing and barricades will prevent vehicle access to the parking lot on New Hampshire Street between Eighth and Ninth streets. The north part of this parking lot is within the fall zone if the south wall of Cielito Lindo were to collapse.

* This fence will continue to the west, cross the alley and tie into the rear steps of Limestone Pizza Kitchen Bar. The alley from south of Limestone to Ninth Street will remain open.

* A barricade will be in place at the north end of the alley (the Eighth Street entrance) to prevent vehicles and pedestrians from entering.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Crews work the scene of a large fire Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in the 800 block of New Hampshire Street.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Crews work the scene of a large fire Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in the 800 block of New Hampshire Street.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Crews work the scene of a large fire Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in the 800 block of New Hampshire Street.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Crews work the scene of a large fire Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in the 800 block of New Hampshire Street.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Crews work the scene of a large fire Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in the 800 block of New Hampshire Street.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Crews work the scene of a large fire Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, in the 800 block of New Hampshire Street.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Cielito Lindo, 815 New Hampshire St., is pictured on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, after an overnight fire destroyed the downtown Lawrence restaurant.

photo by: Chris Conde/Journal-World

Firefighters continued to spray water on the Cielito Lindo building, 815 New Hampshire St., on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2023, hours after a devastating fire erupted.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Cielito Lindo at 815 New Hampshire St. is pictured on the afternoon after Thursday’s devastating fire.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

The alley behind Cielito Lindo remained closed Thursday afternoon following the early-morning fire that destroyed the restaurant at 815 New Hampshire St.

photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

New Hampshire Street between Eighth and Ninth streets remained closed Thursday afternoon following the early-morning fire that destroyed Cielito Lindo at 815 New Hampshire St.

— Operation 100 News contributed to this report.