PARIS — Shaner’s Family Restaurant reopened Wednesday more than two months after a fire closed the Route 26 establishment.

Owner Jack Shaner said it was a lot of work repairing the restaurant, which was remodeled in the process. “It was a much bigger job than I thought it was going to be,” Shaner said Wednesday.

The building caught fire Sunday, July 31, when Shaner was killing weeds with a blowtorch. The exterior walls caught fire and flames also got into one room where fuel tanks were stored, but the building’s sprinklers put out the flames.

The Paris Fire Department quickly extinguished the blaze with help from Norway and Oxford firefighters.

The fire left some structural damage, Shaner said, but “it was definitely cleaning up the smoke damage that was a huge undertaking.” He said nearly every inch of the building has been cleaned, scrubbed, or replaced.

“I think we’re a much better place today than we were,” he said.

He said many of his regular employees were part of the rebuilding work, as well as electrician Chuck Rowe, carpenter Rob Smith, Joe Johnston and Shaner’s wife. He said local firms that helped clean and rebuild also deserved credit, including ServPro and Mid State Sheetmetal.

At lunch Wednesday, the parking lot filled up. “It’s great to see all the familiar faces,” Shaner said.

He said the interest in his restaurant from people in the community was surprising. When the restaurant was shut down, he said he and his employees were stopped often at stores and gas stations and asked about the restaurant’s progress.

“We couldn’t go anywhere without getting asked, ‘When are you going to reopen?’” Shaner said. “It was a great surprise.”

treaves@sunjournal.com