This aerial photo of Gios Trattoria Grille in Bellaire shows the extent of the damage caused by the fire early Monday morning. Photo by Chris Tredway

But, not much else remained in the building, which was destroyed by fire in the early hours of the morning.

"It's a total loss,"Bellaire Assistant Fire Chief Joe Baker said.

The cause of the fire is yet to be determined but state fire marshal Dale Hardy and insurance investigators will start working to figure out exactly what happened this week.

"We bring in the state (fire marshal) because it's a high dollar situation and it's kind of suspicious,"Baker said.

The building was unoccupied and nobody was injured when fire departments responded at around 3 a.m. The last people in the building left at midnight.

One of those last people was employee Kassie Cikity, who said appliances were off and everything was normal when she left.

Cikity was on scene with the burnt building Monday morning after waking up and seeing she had nine missed phone calls from friends and co-workers telling her the news.

"It seems so crazy. It's unreal,"Cikity said. "This place has been my life for two years. It's all I've known."

Another employee, Margaret Hayes, was checking out the damage after the fire too.

She said the news and the sight of the scene was shocking to her.

"When I heard, I got chills in my body,"she said. "I didn't know what to do."

Investigators could say that the fire started in the kitchen area, and witnesses saw 20 inch flames rolling across the building before the fire was put out.

The Bellaire, Mancelona and South Torch Lake fire departments responded, and Allied EMS stood by. Baker said around 50 people worked to quell the fire.

By 9:30 a.m., when firefighters put out the last hot spots and M-88 was opening back up to full traffic, the building was blackened and much of the roof had caved into the restaurant. The smell of burnt wood lingered in the air.

Deputies were putting up emergency tape, to keep people out of the building.

The employees who used to work at Gio's in Bellaire, said they might head over to the Kalkaska location, which according to them was scheduled to open Monday.

"One opens, and one burns down on the same day,"Cikity said. "Kind of ironic, don't you think?"

Employees speculated the Kalkaska location would still open this week.

By the time the fire was out, there was not much left to salvage, but employees did find one envelope that stayed safe from the flames.

The envelope had been for Cikity's sister who just had a baby. Employees and patrons of the restaurant had a bet on the day the child would be born. They each threw in $2 and the winner received all. Nobody got it right - the baby was born later than expected, so the money was sitting in an envelope for her sister when she came back from maternity leave.

Pieces of the envelope were untouched, but most of the money remained intact.

"The whole bar burned down and the envelope was just sitting there,"Cikity said.

Hardy, the fire marshal will wait until the insurance investigators come out with technical and mechanical equipment to do a full investigation, and he estimated that would be by Wednesday.

Hadley Robinson can be reached at hrobinson@michigannewspapers.com or by calling 231-533-8523.