Columbus owner’s restaurant was on fire — the same day of his father’s memorial

Buford King, owner of Rosehill Seafood in Columbus, got a strange call at 6:55 a.m. Wednesday morning. It was his security alarm company, reporting that someone had attempted to break into his restaurant.

But when he looked at the video from the security camera system, he realized the situation was more dire.

“I could look at the camera remotely, and I saw four fire trucks in the parking lot,” King told the Ledger-Enquirer on Thursday. “I said, ‘What’s going on?’”

His friend, who happened to be a firefighter at the scene, called to give him the bad news: A portion of his restaurant caught on fire.

King said he hopped out of bed and went right to the restaurant. The fire was already put out when he got there, but there were a lot of thoughts racing through his mind.

“This is my livelihood,” he said. “This is my employees’ livelihood. You just worry about the financial cost. We have insurance, and it’s gonna take care of the damage, but how long are we gonna be put out? Everybody has to go to work, and we’re family here.”

King spent the morning communicating with his insurance agency and contractors, answering questions from reporters and responding to customers dropping by to see how they could help. Then, in the afternoon, he went to his father’s, E. Buford King’s, memorial service.

“Luckily, the insurance agency, the contractor, and my employees handled everything,” King said. “They allowed me to go and pay respects to my father.”

King reflected on his father’s legacy, which he intends to continue by selling the original recipe of Buford’s Brownies in the restaurant and online.

“His legacy will live through the brownies that we serve here, Buford’s Brownies,” King said. “He’s always supported anything that I wanted to do. I don’t know if this was a test or something, but his legacy will be with us forever.”

King detailed the process of reopening Rosehill, which he said he wanted to do “as soon as possible.” Most of the work to reopen, like containing the damage and handling the insurance company, took place immediately after the fire.

“Our market was fortunately not affected,” he said. “Our restaurant was not affected. All there is a little lingering smoke smell. So, as long as the customers can deal with that, we’ll be fine.”

King summed up the day as “emotionally taxing,” but he earnestly expressed his gratitude for his staff and the community.

“It was an emotionally taxing day, but I’m so thankful for the firefighters, my team, and everybody that was here,” King said. “It’s been very, very nice to see how much everybody’s done to get us to this point.”

Rosehill Seafood has reopened for business “as usual,” as of April 16. The restaurant will be operating within its normal hours of operation.

“We’re opening back up so people can get in here and get the fish they love,” King said. “I just appreciate all their well wishes and the support they’ve shown me for what I’ve been going through.”

Customer reacts to fire

When Janise McKinney and her mother pulled into the Rosehill Seafood parking lot Thursday morning, she had no idea the building was on fire the previous day. She noticed the caution tape sectioning off the leftmost area of the restaurant, but she didn’t think much of it.

“I just came, and it was like business as usual,” McKinney told the Ledger-Enquirer. “We really enjoy the fish.”

McKinney came to Rosehill to pick up mullets at the fish market. She reflected on her experiences at Rosehill.

“It’s good that no one got burned or hurt,” McKinney said. “It’s a nice place to come …. They greet you well, and they give people their turns. They are really good at what they do, and they treat people the same as usual since I’ve been coming here in 2020.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 12:09 PM.