Firefighters from Station 40 confer before leaving the scene. Photo by Bonnie Hobbs.
Often, when there’s a fire at a restaurant, it starts in the kitchen. But a fire last week at a Thai restaurant in University Mall started on the roof, through no fault of the restaurant, at all.
It happened last Thursday afternoon, Aug. 4, at the popular mall along Braddock Road in Fairfax near GMU. And according to Paul Bilowus, an environmental health specialist with the Fairfax County Health Department, “It was caused by electrical work being done near the ductwork.”
“The employees smelled something burning, but didn’t know what it was,” said Montree Nitisaringkarn, manager of the Bangkok Golden Thai Restaurant. “However, other people could see it from the outside and called the fire department.”
That call brought some 12 fire-and-rescue units rushing to the scene. “We were dispatched at 3:50 p.m.,” said Lt. Vito Rocha of Fairfax Center’s Station 40. “We saw smoke coming from the roof when we arrived and were able to extinguish the fire within a half hour. We used ladder trucks to access the roof.”
He said there was only “minimal damage” inside the restaurant and, in the general scheme of things, there was. But part of the ceiling gave way, crashing down on the floor, and the restaurant lost business because it had to turn away customers and close its doors until repairs could be made.
“Water from the fire hoses poured through the ceiling, damaging the ceiling tiles,” said Bilowus. He was on the scene discussing the extent of the damage with the restaurant manager and explaining the steps he had to take before Bangkok Golden Thai could reopen.
“The shopping-center owner will have to find out who was doing the electrical work and contact them,” said Bilowus. “And then whoever it was will have to contact their insurance company – because this will be a pretty hefty bill.”
Although the fire wasn’t noticed until shortly before 4 p.m., he said it actually started somewhere between 2 and 3 p.m. And because of the fire, the gas and electricity in the restaurant had to be shut off.
As a result, said Bilowus, “All the food in the refrigerator and freezer has to be thrown away and replaced because it went above safe temperatures for too long. The restaurant must also re-sanitize all areas that came into contact with the water [from the hoses]. And they can’t reopen until they can clean everything up and get the gas and electricity back on – it could take days.”
Meanwhile, in the immediate aftermath of the incident, several plastic tubs on the restaurant’s floor captured the water still dripping from the ceiling, while employees swept up the debris that fell. As for Nitisaringkarn – although clearly unhappy – he remained stoic, saying simply, “Stuff happens, so we have to take it.”