VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Roulla Lindroos came to the United States with her family in 1974. They lived on the Mediterranean island of Cypress, located between Greece and Turkey.
Her husband is Finnish-Swedish and was working for the UN before they moved to a place they heard called Virginia Beach where Lindroos' family member started a business.
They worked with him for seven years until in 1981 when they bought the Maple Tree Pancake House, which would then sit on Atlantic Avenue for the next 42 years.
Lindroos raised her own family while making a name for her business. She even called some of her dedicated employees family.
The immigrant and long-time Virginia Beach resident never thought her decades of hard work would end in such a sudden way.
"There is a history behind this...and it's very painful," Lindroos said.
She didn't expect a phone call Tuesday night by her neighboring business owner of the Sea of King Restaurant. Lindroos said he told her to come to the Oceanfront, saying both their businesses caught fire.
Another round of unexpected events hit Lindroos when she arrived to the scene, finding a three-alarm fire response from several agencies. Smoke billowed across the Oceanfront while more than 75 firefighters battled the flames that kept reigniting late into the night.
Fire investigators said the fire originated inside the T-Shirt Factory store next door to these businesses. The more than 60-year-old building posed challenges for crews to extinguish the flames.
Wednesday morning, the sun rose over the rubble.
Decades of family photos and memories are charred on the Atlantic Avenue sidewalk. Lindroos' family's "American dream" now faces a challenging reality ahead.
"When it is fresh like this, it is very unreal. When it settles, it is worse, you know?" Lindroos explained over the phone to 13News Now. "The summer is short, it's halfway...and this will take time."
She said she doesn't know what comes next as she waited by the phone to hear back from her insurance company. Each month, Lindroos and her husband employ around 12 to 22 people, depending on the need for hire.
She said she's working to figure out what to do for her long-time workers.
"We don't know about our employees," Lindroos said. "We had one that worked there for 32 years. He was teenager then, now he's a grandpa. So, there's a history behind this and it's very...painful."
The fire also destroyed the King of the Sea restaurant and the T-Shirt Factory.
Owners of the King of the Sea said they did not wish to speak about what happened. 13News Now reached out to the T-Shirt Factory on social media after managers shared a video about the fire, but we did not receive a response to our inquiry.
As for Lindroos, she said she's not sure what comes next. She said she hopes to re-build with the help of her insurance, but she knows it'll take a great deal of time to get there.
13News Now reached out to the T-Shirt Factory about the fire through social media. The owner said one of the employees noticed smoke coming down from the A/C vent and the team quickly called 911.
"We still do not know how and from where it started," the owner said. "If it happened on the roof of the store, we do not know about it."
The owner went on to say the team hopes to reopen sometime next year, adding they are saddened by the recent turn of events.
"City has been great help to put the fire down and protect other properties around," the owner stated. "We cannot thank enough for great work of Virginia Beach fire department, police officer, EMS and other officials who involved."