After fires burned two Village Inn Pizza locations in Hickory within six days, the owners aren’t taking any more chances. They are taking extra steps to ensure the other 10 locations are protected.

“It looks like we’re a target for someone,” said Will Lackey, co-owner of Village Inn Pizza.

Concern about the potential for yet another fire has led the Lackey family, who own the restaurant chain, to hire security professionals to stay in the buildings after the restaurants have closed each night, Lackey said. The owners are also upgrading the security and fire alarm systems at all of their restaurants still operating.

He hopes the precautions will be effective in preventing another fire. Meanwhile, the Lackeys hope a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the person responsible will provide a permanent solution.

The two fires have hit the family hard, said Lackey.

“We’re trying to stick together and help each other through it,” he said.

It was 7 a.m. on Sunday when Lackey was awakened by a phone call from the security company saying the burglar alarm at the pizza restaurant’s Viewmont location was activated. At first, Lackey said he didn’t think much of it. He thought maybe a truck driver had accidentally tripped the alarm.

“We weren’t prepared for what we found out,” he said.

Soon after, Lackey received a phone call from the store’s manager, Holly Phelps.

Lackey remembers her saying, “It’s another fire.”

“We were in shock,” he said.

The news came less than a week after a fire burned Village Inn Pizza off U.S. 70 SW in Hickory on Jan. 19.

“Honestly, I just hoped I was having a bad dream. I was thinking there is absolutely no way (there was another fire),” he said. “This is a nightmare.”

Firefighters were dispatched to the Viewmont restaurant, located at 1021 Second St. NE at 6:38 a.m. Sunday. The building was already engulfed in flames when they arrived.  The fire department sounded a second alarm to bring additional equipment and firefighters to fight the blaze, which was under control by 7:34 a.m.

The Hickory Fire Department is investigating the suspicious fires, said Hickory Deputy Fire Marshal Steve Moore.

Lackey said the first fire appeared to be a cover-up for a robbery. After investigators initially ruled the fire at the U.S. 70 location as an accidental electrical fire, someone found what appeared to be hammer and chisel marks on the safe.

“The last one was totally different,” he said.

Lackey said it appears that someone used an accelerant on the outside of the Viewmont restaurant.

Investigators believe the fire at the Viewmont location started in the front of the restaurant, away from the kitchen. Moore said he couldn’t be more specific because the details are pertinent to the investigation.

The Hickory Fire Department also called in the State Bureau of Investigation arson unit, which collected evidence that will be sent to the SBI crime lab in Raleigh.

While Moore would not comment on whether the restaurant fires are connected or if they were arson, he did note how unusual it is to have two businesses owned by the same people burn in such a short time span.

Lackey said his family is convinced both fires were arson.

“It doesn’t make sense any other way to have two buildings set on fire within six days,” he said.

The family is struggling to figure out who would want to hurt them like this.

“We’ve wracked our brains trying to think of anyone who would have it in for us,” Lackey said.

He said they haven’t been able to come up with a single name.

The Lackey family has owned the pizza chain for 40 years, since his father, W. Ray Lackey, opened the first location in Statesville in 1967.

Since the fires, Lackey said there has been an outcry of support from restaurant patrons and friends. He said everyone has encouraged them to rebuild.

Lackey said the insurance adjuster estimated it would take six months to a year to rebuild the Viewmont location. The family is also looking for property to relocate the U.S. 70 store.

He said the fires have also left 35 employees without jobs.

 “We need people to call us and give us information,” Moore said.

Anyone with information regarding either Village Inn Pizza fire should call the Hickory Fire Department at (828) 323-7522.