It represents the company’s very first location.

Saturday night and into Sunday morning, a fire decimated the building, causing the roof to collapse.

“I saw a bunch of pictures, I saw videos and everything, but when I saw it, I just cried,” a manager with the company who wished to remain anonymous told the Standard-Examiner. “It’s devastating. My crew, my employees – they are wondering what’s going to happen, and as of right now, I don’t know. This is really bad … and it’s just heartbreaking to see all this.”

The manager said the cause remains unknown but there were a lot of people in the parking lot setting off fireworks.

“This happens almost every year because my general manager says that the next day when he comes to open the restaurant on the fifth every year, there’s a bunch of fireworks. … The dumpster is full of them. And there’s a lot of witnesses, especially my night crew when they left. They were doing (fireworks) on the other parking lot and around here.

“Other than that, we don’t know anything. We didn’t have any electrical problems here. Started on the roof. Other than that, we are just waiting for the investigation to be over.”

The manager was confident the owner, who is the franchisee for 18 locations, would do what he could to help the employees out.

“I just barely talked to him over the phone, and he was just saying, ‘Hey, make sure that you talk to everybody, tell them to calm down. … We can send people to work at another location and make sure that they are taken care of,'” she said. “That was the first thing he told me, ‘Hey, talk to your people. Make sure that they are calm and they know that they still have a job while we rebuild, because it’s going to take a while.'”

According to a press release from Layton City Fire, Layton Dispatch started receiving multiple 911 calls reporting a fire at Costa Vida, located at 630 West 1425 North, at approximately 11:54 p.m. Saturday.

“Upon arrival, crews found active fire involving the roof of the building,” the release stated. “Firefighters quickly initiated an aggressive interior and roof attack in an effort to contain the fire. As operations progressed, the building’s unique roof construction significantly contributed to the spread of the fire and complicated suppression efforts. The original pitched roof had been enclosed by parapet walls and partially covered by a flat roof system, creating concealed spaces where fire was able to spread.

“Fire suppression efforts continued for several hours and required large volumes of water and extensive roof operations. As conditions deteriorated and a portion of the roof collapsed, incident commanders ordered crews to withdraw from the interior of the structure and transition to defensive operations to ensure firefighter safety.

“At approximately 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning, firefighters returned to the scene after receiving reports of smoke coming from the building. Crews located a rekindle within the roof assembly and conducted additional overhaul operations, including opening more of the roof to expose and extinguish remaining hot spots. The fire was quickly controlled, and crews remained on scene to ensure the building was completely extinguished.”

The release stated the possibility of fireworks as a contributing factor is being investigated and that the building is considered a “near-total loss,” with damages estimated as between $1 million and $1.2 million.

No injuries were reported, the release stated.

Firefighters from the Layton City Fire Department were assisted by the Hill Air Force Base Fire Department and the Layton Police Department responded to the fire, according to the release.

Contact Standard-Examiner editor Ryan Comer at rcomer@standard.net.