Siren's Seafood Owners: We Have No Idea What Caused Fire

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — As of Tuesday, the Middletown Fire Department is not releasing what caused the fire at Siren's Seafood restaurant on Monday afternoon.

The cause of the fire is currently being investigated by Middletown Fire Marshal Buddy Skelly and his team.

This is the fire that broke out at 4:30 p.m. Memorial Day Monday at Siren's Seafood on Highway 36. The restaurant was not open when the fire started; it is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

"We still have no idea what happened," one of the restaurant owners, Diana Koerner, told Patch. She said the fire marshal has not even told them yet what caused the fire.

"We closed up shop Sunday night after a great Memorial Day weekend, and then got the call around 5:00 p.m. Monday from a friend of ours that Siren's was on fire. We rushed over there and the fire department already had everything under control (we only live about a mile away)."

Koerner described Siren's as "a true family business." She said it is owned by her husband, herself and their two adult sons. Their teenage daughter works there as well.

"We are so devastated," she continued. "It’s just a shame as we were gearing up for summer. We are hoping that the community will rally around us with that part of the business (their mini golf section) as we figure out how to move forward with the restaurant. I can’t even wrap my head around a lot of it right now, still trying to process it."

That building is the former Hole in One mini-golf course that was transformed into Siren’s Seafood in the past year. Siren's Seafood just opened in December.

When Middletown firefighters got there Monday, they found "heavy fire conditions" inside the restaurant, and heavy smoke poured from the eaves. The response to the fire was so large it shut down Rt. 36 for several hours Monday afternoon.

"To our amazing customers, we will have more information soon, but we are not giving up hope just yet for a brighter tomorrow," they wrote in this post on Facebook. "We are absolutely devastated right now and are still processing what happened. We appreciate all of your support and we may need your support more than ever in the coming weeks. For now we are just hugging one another and thanking god that we and our first responders are all safe."

Middletown, Brevent Park, Leonardo Fire Company, Community Fire Company, Belford Independent and Navesink Hook and Ladder all responded, as did Port Monmouth First Aid and Middletown EMS.

Initial report: 2 Serious Fires In Middletown Over Memorial Day Weekend