Old Lyme ― Luigi Conte imagined the worst as he drove from his home in East Lyme toward the red haze that hung over his pizzeria in the early morning hours of Jan. 9.

He’d been alerted by a security company and then a friend that there was smoke coming out of Sapore Pizzeria on Route 1 around 4:20 a.m.

“I was afraid I was not going to see my place,” he said.

But the color in the sky turned out to be from lights of the emergency vehicles converging around his business. He said the firefighters’ quick response contained the fire to the kitchen, where it started.

Fire marshal Dave Roberge on Monday said a fryolator caused the fire. The restaurant was not occupied at the time and no injuries were reported. Departments from East Lyme, Old Saybrook, Clinton, Essex and Lyme joined local firefighters on the scene.

Conte, who is coming up on four years as the pizza shop owner, said he arrived to find firefighters in the building and on the roof.

“Ten more minutes, the fire would have come up to the exhaust fan and burned the whole place down,” he said.

He said Monday he hopes to reopen in roughly four months. That’s his tentative estimate for how long it will take to replace the destroyed fryolator, stovetop, oven, hood system, attic area and roof. Then there’s the smoke damage, and the unknowns.

“After a fire everything needs to be brought up to code, and I don’t know what else there is to fix besides the things that I see,” he said.

Conte and his wife, Tiffany Porter, tried to give away the food from the walk-in refrigerator and freezer after they were advised to shut off the electricity for repairs. But he said health district officials told him to throw it out.

An online fundraiser to help get Conte’s employees through the period of unemployment had exceeded its $2,500 goal by $10 as of Monday. Lenny Corto, owner of Soundview Brewing Co. and the former Lenny’s on the Beach, started the crowdsourcing effort.

Corto said he’s been feeding Conte names of people in the food service industry to help the employees find work while they wait for the pizzeria to reopen.

Most of the donations came in the first week, according to Corto. He recounted hearing from many people lamenting the loss of Sapore Pizzeria when the supply of restaurants in town is already limited.

“They have good food. The staff and people there are great. It’s got that small town vibe you can’t get anywhere else,” he said.

He said the first person to donate was the owner of Teddy’s Old Lyme Pizza Palace, the other pizza purveyor in town.

Conte described himself as a self-taught pie maker who lets his dough sit for a minimum of 48 hours. The fermentation allows him to bake the pies at a higher temperature for a shorter period to ensure a crisp crust and the more flavorful toppings.

He said he figured it out himself.

“The more I was making mistakes, the more I was eating the pizza, the more I perfected my product,” he said.

Conte said he’s at the restaurant every day making pies the way he wants to: with careful attention to the rise of the dough.

“Pizza is about 90% preparation and 10 percent baking the pizza,” he said.

Conte grew up in Naples, Italy, before moving to the United States when he was 22 years old. He was brought over by his uncle, Roberto Schiano, to help run Paesano's Pizza Bar & Bistro by Illiano's on New London’s Bank Street.

Schiano is co-owner of numerous Illiano’s restaurants, which included Joey's by Illiano's in Old Lyme. Conte said he asked his family if he could lease the building for his own venture when he decided he could offer people a good value with his “product.”

Asked to describe what he’s selling, Conte said it’s “a young man that comes from Italy that bakes you a pie.”

He said he’s hoping to be open again by June, but acknowledged it could take longer. Meanwhile, he and his wife remain grateful for the support they have received from the community.

“Every day I have people that call me, text me, that want me to reopen and truly love me,” he said. “We are really happy the Old Lyme community loves us and we appreciate the help.”

e.regan@theday.com