(ELBERTA, Ala.) December 7 -- It was a vicious fire, so intense, it destroyed a 30-year old Baldwin County landmark in less then 4 hours, and left 50 people without jobs.
Alice Bretz, the owner of Wolf Bay Lodge said, "it still hasn't really sunk in. i don't even know what i'm going to do."
Now Charlie Wraite and his 2 daughters: Charlene Haber and Alice Bretz - owners of the popular Elberta seafood restaurant are searching for a way to continue paying salaries through christmas, though the family business is nothing but charred rubble and ash.
"They need to be working," Charlie said, "They want to be working. and we want to go get another place while this one is being torn down and rebuilt."
According to the family, wolf bay lodge was one of the largest employers in Elberta.. responsible for about 15% of the total income.
"That's a lot of lives that are gonna change in this area," Alice said, "With the economy, there aren't many jobs out there. because the restaurant was fully insured, the owners feel confident their family will be ok."
Their goal is for the new restaurant to be up and running within the year.
But the owners say their greatest challenge is finidng a temporary location quickly because 50 employees are counting on them.
"Sorry we can't get them x-mas money that they probably need. we'll get them employed as soon as we can can. "
"I'm sorry this had to happen."
