Following Market Square Fire, Winghart's Owner Expects To Be Closed Between 4-6 Months

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- One of the businesses impacted by the Market Square fire is going to be closed for 4-6 months.

Winghart's owner said it's going to be weeks before anyone can start the cleanup process.

He said the first three floors got water damage but the fourth floor got the brunt of the fire damage.

"It's very devastating, I couldn't sleep last night it was just horrible," Winghart's owner Shiv Bandhu said.

He gave KDKA an exclusive look inside the building Friday afternoon to see the damage after Thursday's four-alarm-fire.

A fire inspector tells him the heating unit on the roof may have been the cause.

Adjusters are working to figure out how the cost of the damage.

"From what he's saying, they're going to bring in a special adjuster who deals with high claims, at least half a million dollars plus," Bandhu said.

According to Bandhu, employees noticed something was wrong in Winghart's at 11:15 that morning, but public safety said no one called 911 until almost noon.

Bandhu says his employees smelled something funny but no one knew what it was or saw the smoke.

"It seemed like it was a minor small smell, they thought it was something not important," Bandhu said.

Since 2010 there have been at least six fires in Market Square.

Mayor Bill Peduto says the age of the buildings there contributes to the problem.

"There's big parts of the city where buildings that were built after World War II provide less of a risk than these buildings in Market Square that are from the 19th century," Peduto said.

Building codes aim to prevent situations like Thursday by making sure fire prevention tools are in place but Market Square has several places that avoid being up to code.

"A lot of the problems that we see are grandfathered in from buildings that are very old," Peduto said.

Two years ago the city partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to learn what buildings are a danger for a fire.

The mayor said these types of measures helps the city to get inspectors to dangerous locations.

According to public safety, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.