Bryon Martinez, in the foreground, and his staff at work at Firehouse Pizza. Photo by John Jensen.

LUCERNE – Starting a business is, by itself, one of the biggest challenges anyone can face.

But imagine you've just started a new business, you have a small child and a baby on the way, and you find yourself called to go to war overseas.

That's what happened recently to Bryon Martinez, who opened Firehouse Pizza in Lucerne earlier this month.

Martinez, 23, was raised in the Corning area, and has worked in food service, particularly pizza restaurants, since he was a teenager.

He started going to community college to study business, and joined the Army National Guard to help finance his education.

His original assignment in the guard was to have been in San Diego, patrolling the border. Martinez said that assignment was called off.

Eventually, though, Martinez said he dropped out of school because his goal was to open a pizza parlor.

As he was driving through Lake County last year he passed through Lucerne and saw the former Paradise Pizza parlor, at the corner of Eighth Avenue and Highway 20, sitting empty. The name caught his eye because he had wanted to have a pizza parlor with just that title.

So he, along with his wife, Sabrina, and their friends, started putting the restaurant that came to be known as Firehouse Pizza together. It opened at the start of February and has received a warm response from the community.

Shortly after he signed the two-year lease for the building, Martinez called the guard to request a leave of absence.

That's when he was told that his name was on a deployment roster for Iraq.

Martinez is a member of a combat engineer unit based in Redding, which specializes in clearing roads of improvised explosive devices – IEDs – the homemade bombs which have proved especially deadly for U.S. soldiers and Iraqis during the Iraq War.

He was told to attend a pre-deployment conference at Camp Roberts near San Luis Obispo, which was taking place in the middle of the restaurant's opening week. Martinez said he managed to get a waiver from attending because of his business commitment.

Martinez leaves for training March 2, and will ship out to Iraq in May. He's hoping that he'll still be home for the birth of his second child, due that month. He and Sabrina also have a 5-year-old son, Kameron.

Last Saturday, a group of local veterans and military supporters gathered at the restaurant for a social night to support Martinez and his business.

Martinez said he expects to be gone about 18 months. While he's gone, his friends, brothers Thomas and Cisco Bobadilla, will run the restaurant for him.

Firehouse Pizza's hours are 2 to 9 p.m. during winter, with summer hours set for 2 to 10 p.m. The menu includes pizza, salads, wings, burgers and sandwiches, with wine and beer scheduled to be added early next month.

The restaurant, located at 6232 E. Highway 20, can be reached at 274-7117.

E-mail Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

A group of local veterans gathered for a social night at the restaurant Feb. 17. Bryon and Sabrina Martinez are seated in the front row. Photo courtesy of Ginny Craven.

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