Fire intentionally set at Tewbeleaux's restaurant in Atascocita, officials say

ATASCOCITA, Texas (KTRK) -- A restaurant in Atascocita was badly damaged after a fire was intentionally set Friday morning, according to the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office.

At about 3:30 a.m. on Friday, a fire tore open the entire front of Tewbeleaux's restaurant at 18321 West Lake Houston Parkway.

SkyEye video shows the restaurant's front door was thrown about 25 yards from the building in the parking lot.

"We've come out and done a very thorough investigation into the origin and cause of the fire," Capt. James Singleton of the Harris County Fire Marshal's Office said. "We have determined this is an intentionally set fire. There is no one injured that we found so far. We do not have a suspect, but we have several leads were currently working on."

The force of the fire caused structural damage to the entire building, a large suburban strip center. All businesses in the building had to be closed. The fire marshal posted signs in front of each business door warning of unsafe conditions caused by the fire.

"I think between four, five, six days," Louie Cruz, a handyman who works with several small businesses in the complex said. He doesn't know when the building will be back up and open, but hopes it won't take too long. "I don't think it will take six days. Because you lose business out here. If you don't have a job, you don't open, you don't have money."

The fire marshals would not go into specifics, but did say there does not appear to be a gas leak, or any signs that this was an accident.

"In a fire investigation we look at all the possible causes and we ruled out all the accidental causes," Singleton said. "We have several different scenarios that are intentionally set."

Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact them.

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