91-Year-Old Owner Vows To Rebuild Appliance Store Destroyed By Fire

REVERE (CBS) -- Seventy-three years ago, Chuck Sozio bought a chicken house in Revere and then turned it into a successful, iconic appliance business.

"I opened this store in 1945, 70 years is a long time," Sozio said.

On Saturday night, a fire raged through Sozio's Appliance Store on Route 60 in Revere and burned it to the ground.

"It was unbelievable," the 91-year-old World War II veteran told WBZ-TV.

The official cause is under investigation but Sozio's wife Patricia, who was inside when the fire started, said it seemed to originate from a pile of trash.

"It might have been a cigarette," he speculated.

Sozio, who owns two other appliance stores, one in Dorchester and one in Cambridge, is vowing to rebuild.

He said he hopes to allow about two dozen employees who have been temporarily displaced in Revere to work at those other locations.

The State Fire Marshal estimates the damage between $4 million to $5 million.