Wally's comes down
<span>More than two months after being gutted in an Aug. 27 fire, Wally's is being demolished this week.</span>
<span>"It's going to be a rough day, but it's got to be done, it's progress," Wally's owner Ryan Waltemate told the Herald Tribune on Tuesday.</span>
<span>Waltemate said demolition of the building was delayed due to insurance and Environmental Protection Agency paperwork. He did not know what his plans for the property are.</span>
<span>"We really don't know yet," he said. "We're still trying to figure out where our financial situation is going to be when we're done with all this.</span>
<span>"I might try and sell it, I might try and hang on to it if we can. I'd love to build something on it, but who knows."</span>
<span>Waltemate said Bruce Dahlem, an investigator with the Illinois State Fire Marshal's office, had ruled the cause of the fire "undetermined" due to the amount of debris inside the building.</span>
<span>"The roof is in the dining room," Waltemate said, who added he believes the fire may have been started by a dehumidifier in the basement. "How it happened, we may never know."</span>
<span>Dahlem could not be reached for comment by the Herald Tribune's press deadline.</span>
<span>Waltemate said the nearby Mary Help of Christians Catholic Parish is interested in the lot, but only after demolition and cleanup efforts have been completed. He noted that he isn't sure what the lot would be worth.</span>
<span>Waltemate, girlfriend Clara Loucks and the couple's son, Brayden, have moved into a house on Swanwick Street since the fire, which was reported at 2:03 a.m. Loucks and Waltemate were returning from out-of-state - while their son was staying with relatives - when they discovered the fire.</span>
<span>All three lived in an apartment above the restaurant. Josh Berry, who rented the other upstairs apartment, was able to make it out safely.</span>
<span>Chester Fire Chief Marty Bert told the Herald Tribune the day of the fire that it started in the basement, but was too hot for firefighters to get to.</span>
<span>The fire was the second one in 17 months at Wally's, which was closed for nearly 10 months after a March 25, 2014 kitchen fire resulted in extensive smoke damage to the restaurant.</span>
<span>Once known as Wally's Original, the restaurant rebranded itself as "Wally's" after the 2014 fire with the motto of "Better than the Original."</span>
<span>It successfully reopened in January and had hosted several fundraisers and special events. Waltemate said he is still exploring his options as far as returning to the restaurant business.</span>
<span>"Around here, if I'm not working for myself, it's pretty hard to make a living doing what I do," he said. "I'm hoping I can get back into business one way or another because I'm not really good at doing anything else.</span>
<span>"I've got 20 years invested into a culinary career, that's about all I've got going for me."</span>