Triumph over Tragedy

George Katsoulis remembers things happening almost in slow motion.

“The best way I can describe it,” he told BusinessWest, “was that it was like watching something happen in a movie or TV show. You know it’s reality, but it’s just so hard to believe that you can’t process it. I felt like I was an actor playing a role.”

He was talking about the fire on March 27 that nearly took his life, closed several business ventures in a crowded block of Memorial Avenue in West Springfield, and forever changed the family business George ran along with his brother, Nick. The blaze left him with third-degree burns over more than three-quarters of his body and doctors thinking that he probably wouldn’t survive.

He did, and so did the venture, now called Spartan Auto Care Center, that was started by his father, Markos, more than a half-century earlier. And in both cases, the stories involve determination, or sheer will, not to let the fire win the battle.

They also involve family, friends, and Spartan’s customers, who supplied more than enough support for George, who spent several months in a coma, and the business itself to find that will to carry on.

“You go through your daily life, and you don’t think about the impact that you make,” said Nick, “but seeing the number of cards, the support, you see that George really made an impact on people. It was an overwhelming outpouring. Seeing that kind of response … that was a factor in our wanting to get back in business as well.”

The business was back up and running less than a year after the blaze. For George, the climb back has taken much longer, and it is still ongoing. He works a few hours a week, and is optimistic that this year he will be more active with a company that continues to evolve.

In this issue, BusinessWest looks back on the events of that fateful March day, but also at the comeback efforts for both the business owner and the business. And they are truly inspirational.

Igniting a Comeback

Three seconds.

That’s how long George Katsoulis says it took for a ribbon of fire to reach him and one of his employees as they carried a gas tank to the back of the shop as the afternoon wore on that day that no one will forget.

“Nick was in our other store at 631 State St. in Springfield, and I was managing the shop,” George began as he recalled the events that led to the calamity that happened with almost no warning. “It was business as usual; nothing particularly stood out about that day.

“A typical repair we do is to a damaged fuel pump, most commonly located inside gas tanks these days,” he continued. “The job that day … I remember being in my office on the phone, watching through the window as one of my mechanics took the gas tank out of a car. It was sitting under the vehicle. What you want to do is bring that tank away from the bays, into the shop just behind the bays. I could see the mechanic looking around for another body to help him carry the tank. You hate to see someone idle, so I got off the phone and went to help him move it.”

That’s when an otherwise typical day became anything but.

“We proceeded to move the tank from the front of the shop to the back,” George said. “When we got in the back room, well, it had been sitting around, so gas fumes had gotten into the air. I can’t say that I saw the fire begin, but the fire came through the doorway we just entered.”

Nick explained that a mechanic in a bay adjacent to the fuel-pump job was cutting a muffler off, and he speculated that this ignited the fumes that had collected in the ceiling. The fire then set off to find the source — the tank in the two men’s hands.

“It was a pretty full tank,” George said, “and we spilled a fair amount of the gas on our journey to the back room. It was like a fuse. We were holding the tank, and we watched the flames come to us … it probably took about three seconds to find us.

“I remember being arm’s length away from a fire extinguisher, but I couldn’t reach it, because between me and that extinguisher were all the flames. Arm’s length, and I just couldn’t reach it.”

Over in Springfield, Nick recalled, he received a couple of phone calls from friend who worked in Tower Square. “They said, ‘I think you better go check out what’s going on over at your place; it looks like there’s a fire over near there.’”

Also within the Spartan building at that time were the Cigar Room, the Kung Fu Academy, New England Granite, and Richard’s Giant Grinders. Nick said he called Spartan numerous times, and then each of the tenants. No one was answering.

“I walked outside the shop in Springfield and could see the smoke. It was very unsettling. To then come down here and see what was going on” — he paused — “I was in a state of shock.”

Nick said that the building, made of cinder blocks with a steel deck roof, was badly damaged on the inside, but the water and smoke damage hit the tenants hard. Remarkably, for a fire that would eventually draw every truck in the city, as well as engines from Agawam, Springfield, and Holyoke, the front of Spartan was largely undamaged. There were cars out in front of the building that were undamaged, and George laughed when he said, “our computers were on the next day.”

The other mechanic holding the gas tank suffered third-degree burns on his leg. But it was George who suffered the worst of it that day.

“Third-degree burns on 86% of my body,” he said. “Pretty much everything but my head.”

Nick added, “almost immediately he was sent to Mass General in Boston. He was intubated for quite some time. They did skin grafts, and at one point, last rites were administered. We were told to say goodbye. Essentially, he was in a coma for four months.”

“Three,” George corrected him, smiling, “and one more awake in the hospital.

“The doctors and nurses all said to me that it was nothing short of a miracle that I was alive,” he added. “So many people were saying prayers for me; I attribute my survival to that.”

Both men said that the most important thing for them to take away from this tragedy was the importance of their customers, friends, and families. While every one of the heartfelt offerings of support touched the Katsoulis families, Nick said that one in particular stood out.

“It’s a story that still touches me to this day,” he said. “If you drive out on the Mass Pike heading to Boston, in Brimfield there’s a small niche with a statue of the Virgin Mary on the side of the highway. That’s the family farm for one of our customers, and she said she prayed for George. Every time I drive by that, I will think of her.”

The staff at Mass General was also touched by the support George received while at the hospital. “They couldn’t believe the number of cards and letters he received,” Nick said. “I want to say that it was more than 1,000.”

Back in Business

From the first moment after the fire, all business at the West Springfield shop was shifted to the Spartan location across the river. But there was never a question in Nick’s mind that the shop would reopen. His dedication to the employees and other businesses left him with no other option.

After six months of going through official channels to secure building permits, reconstruction at 865 Memorial Ave. started in earnest. The shop reopened on Dec. 12 of that year. “Richard’s Grinders is really another part of this story,” Nick added. “They were shut down at no fault of their own, but we’re happy they’re back.” The deli reopened in March 2009.

Looking back at a year since Spartan reopened, Nick said, “we’re incredibly thankful that our customers have come back to us, and it was a strong year. In so many ways, we do feel fortunate. That’s why George and I are always here, to make sure that things go the way our customers want them to go.”

George said that his goal for the coming year is simply to get back in the shop.

“It took about a year after the accident for me to be able to walk again,” he said, but then added with a smile, “if my customers and employees are waiting for me, then this is the year I will be back to work.”