Paul Woodard surveys the damage to his restaurant, Big Daddy’s Bar-B-Que and Catering, in Warrior. A fire destroyed the back half of the restaurant on Monday night.

Warrior Firefighters extinguished a fire at Big Daddy’s Bar-B-Que and Catering Monday afternoon. It destroyed the back portion of the building.

“It started where they barbecue, so that could be the reason. It’s also an old building, so it could have been electrical,” said Warrior volunteer firefighter Lt. Chris Harden. He said these reasons were speculation, and the fire’s cause had not been officially determined, yet.

Harden said the restaurant was open and serving customers when the fire started, but nobody was hurt. He said the fire spread quickly, and could have potentially burned down multiple buildings.

“It was actively ablaze. There were people pulling into the fire station to tell us Big Daddy’s was on fire before we ever even got the call,” said Harden.

Two fire engines responded to put out the blaze.

“It started in the back, so we came through the front and started knocking it down. We beat it back and kept it from getting to the front part of the structure,” said Harden.

The Warrior Fire Department has two paid firefighters that are at the station during the day. Harden said it was fortunate that there were volunteers nearby to assist.

Despite the fire, the owner, Paul Woodard, has continued to work, doing as much catering as possible.

“We’ve got some things already made that we were going to do this week, although we can’t promise any new orders,” said Shandi Woodard, assistant manager at Big Daddy’s Bar-B-Que.

She said the restaurant has insurance. Big Daddy’s is closed for now because of the fire damage, but the owners said it will be reopened when repairs are complete.