Stone Mountain restaurant manager vows to reopen after fire tears through building

STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. - A big fire tore through a popular restaurant in Gwinnett County Tuesday morning.

Thankfully, everyone made it out of Frontera Mexican Kitchen okay and no one was hurt, but it will be closed for some time.

"I got a phone call at 9 o’clock in the morning that the restaurant was on fire," said Rodrigo Gonzalez, the manager. "One of the cooks was inside, and he called me and said there was a lot of smoke all over the place, so he went outside."

Fire officials said that the cook saw a neon sign sparking, which may have ignited the roof.

When the smoke cleared, a big hole was where the roof used to be.

A fire breaks out at Frontera Mexican Kitchen in Stone Mountain on June 13, 2023. (FOX 5 Atlanta)

"I pulled in for some gas, looked straight over, and saw flames shooting through the right side of the building," said Aaron Richard, who captured the blaze on video.

At one point, the fire got so bad, and the structure so unstable, that firefighters had to evacuate.

Richard said in his line of work, he ends up helping businesses recover.

"As public adjusters, we see a lot of fires, and we help them to get the most amount of money from the insurance settlement," Richard said. "I hope to get in touch with him today and help them through this insurance process."

A fire breaks out at Frontera Mexican Kitchen in Stone Mountain on June 13, 2023. (FOX 5 Atlanta)

Gonzalez said they are committed to recovering and reopening the location.

"We will rebuild it again as soon as possible because a lot of families depend on this restaurant."