Fire destroys Monticello restaurant

MONTICELLO, Ind. (WLFI) - A fire destroyed Sublette's Rib House in Monticello Wednesday afternoon after firefighters say for an unknown reason, a barn behind the rib house caught on fire.

Winds gusting in excess of 20 miles per hour carried the fire from the storage shed to the restaurant, which quickly caught fire because it was made entirely of wood.

Firefighter's say the restaurant is a complete loss, and a big loss for the Monticello community.

"It's a hard thing for the city of Monticello and, of course, Sublette's too because this is a big restaurant in town and our busy time of the year," Monticello Fire Chief Galen Logan said. "Hopefully, they'll get on it and rebuild it pretty quick."

Though the restaurant is left destroyed with only charred remains of the standing structure, luckily, nobody was hurt.

For that, employees and customers inside Sublette's at the time are thankful for the quick response of Wayne Winkler who was passing by, and who is appropriately studying to be a firefighter.

He saw the shed in flames and ran to warn those inside who were completely unaware they were in danger.

"I ran in the front doors," Wayne Winkler said. "The worker's desk was right up front, so they were easy to get, easy to notify. Then there was another small family in the room aside from it and I notified them as well. Everybody got out. By that time, the building was almost halfway engulfed, rolling with black smoke, flames. Big fire."

The owner of Sublette's said he's already thinking of ways to recover and rebuild.

Though a sad loss for the owners and Monticello, those who witnessed the fire are counting their blessings that it was just the building that was lost and not a life of somebody inside.

The fire is not believed to have been caused by arson, but because of the huge monetary loss, the state fire marshal was called to investigate.