Small Business Solutions

Less than 48 hours after a raging fire destroyed Oscar’s Frozen Custard in Brookfield, WISN 12 News has learned the restaurant did not have and was not required to have a monitored fire alarm system or an automatic sprinkler system.Fire investigators and insurance adjusters were on the scene Wednesday afternoon.”I’m accepting everything today and ready to move forward. This will be completely taken down,” said co-owner Susie Taylor. Town of Brookfield Fire Chief John-Paul Schilling said this fire was a rare one.”It was probably one of the larger fires we’ve had here in several years,” he said.”Honestly, I don’t know. There’s too much to speculate right now,” Schilling said when asked about the cause of the fire.WISN 12 asked Schilling if the restaurant was up to fire code.”They were up to code, however, when the building was built 30 years ago, the code didn’t require them to have an automatic sprinkler system put in the building, and they did not have to have a monitored fire alarm,” he explained.”They did have a fire suppression system in their cooking area,” he added.”We had whatever was required of the restaurant,” Taylor said.Schilling said there’s a possibility nothing could have stopped the destruction.”If that fire would have started on the roof or in the void space, then no, the sprinkler system probably would not have helped,” he said.Schilling added the high wind and rain made it difficult for his crews.”We tried everything we could valiantly to extinguish the fire and save the property, but it was too far gone by the time we got there,” he said.Taylor said the investigation and insurance process will be a long one. In the meantime, she wants people to support their other locations.”Thank you so much for your support we all at Oscar’s appreciate it so much,” she said.There have been some fraudulent GoFundMe fundraisers popping up online that have been removed. Taylor said there are no fundraisers currently, and any updates will be posted to the Oscar’s Frozen Custard Facebook page.