Fire Damage to Charles City Pizza Ranch Contained Mostly Outside of Restaurant

There were no injuries in a Monday (05.06) afternoon fire at Pizza Ranch in Charles City, with most of the damage contained to the outer side of the restaurant.

Firefighters from the Charles City, Floyd and Colwell fire departments were called to the store, just west of Hy-Vee,  shortly after 1:30 pm and were on the scene for less than two hours. Charles City firefighter Josh Neupert says damage to the interior of the structure appeared to be minimal.

Pizza Ranch co-owner Dustin Jentz says he was working on some landscaping when the bushes adjacent to the store caught on fire and spread to the northeast corner of the establishment, which sustained the brunt of the fire damage. 

Jentz says four staff members were inside the restaurant when the fire started and all safely evacuated the building. He was unsure how long they might be closed pending the extent of the damages inside.