EVERETT — It took Justin Ingram years to find a job he loved.
He lost his job as a pantry chef when his workplace, Emory’s on Silver Lake, was destroyed by fire Monday.
Now the 23-year-old Mill Creek man is scrambling to find work and wondering how he’ll pay the rent.
“It is so close to the holidays and there is no money for the bills, let alone gifts,” Ingram said Wednesday. “There are cooks that need jobs and we are willing to work hard.”
It’s not any better for most of the other 50 employees who worked at the popular Everett restaurant, he said. As near as he knows, only the former head chef has landed another job.
Ingram is putting in applications. It’s hard to find a job that pays as well as his $11-an-hour former position, he said.
“I’ve never had a better job,” Ingram said. “I loved that job.”
Three days after the $2 million blaze, city officials remain tight-lipped.
“At this point the fire is still under investigation,” Everett spokeswoman Kate Reardon said. “We are looking at all possible causes. This involves combing through and examining debris from the fire.”
She refused to answer any other questions, including whether investigators consider the blaze suspicious or whether evidence has been sent to be tested for potential signs of arson.
On Monday, Everett fire investigators asked the Snohomish County Fire Marshal’s Office to deploy Topper, the county’s specially trained arson detection dog, said Mike Makela, the dog’s handler.
Topper’s keen sense of smell is able to detect the presence of accelerants.
Ingram, the former pantry chef, said the fire seemed suspicious to him. The worst damage appeared to be centered around the lounge area by the expansive lakeside deck. The kitchen was across the restaurant on the other side of the building.
“There was not one drop of grease in that kitchen,” he said. “We cleaned it spic-and-span every day.”
Emory’s opened in 1994 on the site of the former Silver Beach Resort, a private park dating back to the 1930s. It featured Mediterranean and Asian-inspired cuisine and quickly became a popular hangout for locals.
Emory’s owner, former Mukilteo mayor Emory Cole, said he is doing everything in his power to find work elsewhere for his former employees, including calling other restaurants.
Potential employers can contact him through his Web site at www.emorys.com, he said.
Those who wish to help his staff can donate money to funds at any branch of Cascade Bank or Citybank.
Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.
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