CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — Weeks since a cigarette sparked a fire outside a Chesapeake bar, the restaurant remains closed until repairs can be made.

The restaurant isn’t responsible for making those repairs, but is still waiting on the go ahead to re-open.

In the meantime, the fire has left its employees out of work right before the holidays.

“We thought it would just be a couple weeks, but now it’s maybe a month, month-and-a-half,” said Creek Bar co-owner Jennifer Singer.

Singer said they were forced to shut their doors three weeks ago, on Nov. 17, after a cigarette butt caused an outside column to go up in flames, and it was just feet away from an outdoor ashtray.

Crews were able to get the fire under control before flames got inside the restaurant, but the city deemed the restaurant unsafe until the damage outside the front door could be fixed.

“We’re just waiting for everybody to get going,” Singer said. “I’m sure they’re on vacation, it’s the holiday season, they’re doing their home life and scheduling a company to come out.”

Singer said the property manager is responsible for the repairs, so they’re just waiting for crews to come in.

“Its out of our control,” Singer said. “We have to wait, and all we can really do is just contact the people. We contacted the owners, we went to City Hall a couple times, but they said don’t bother coming back. There’s nothing we can do, so it’s really just waiting for the owners of the property.’

Singer said they’ve contacted the property manager — Henry Wilcox of Colliers — multiple times.

10 On Your Side called him as well following our interview at 11:36 a.m. Monday morning.

Singer said late Monday afternoon she received a call saying repairs would be made by Dec. 22.

She says in the meantime, they’re still working to pay their 19 employees, one of whom just had a baby.

“You don’t want to let them down,” Singer said. “It’s Christmas time, you know, the holiday season, so it’s hard.”

Singer said they have a tight knit group, so they’re continuing to bring them in for trainings and to be together during this extended closure.

“We’re trying to do a once a week, twice a week sort of thing, keep them going so that they know we aren’t giving up on them,” Singer said.

And they’re hoping to be back with their loyal customers soon.

“We’re local, so even shopping at Food Lion, we ran into a few customers and it’s just, they’re waiting for us to re-open,” Singer said.

There’s a GoFundMe set up to help employees with lost wages. If you’d like to help, click here.