Hospitality Industry Property Risks: Ohio Restaurant Fire Starts In “Kitchen Fryer” And Heavily Damages Structure; “Advanced Fire In Building’s Center” Limits Firefighters To Defensive Action

“….an employee saw smoke at a fryer as he was walking through the kitchen, preparing to make a Restaurant Fire Risksdelivery…he and the two other employees cut off power to the fryer and tried to use a fire extinguisher “but it only got worse…(there was no) way of getting it stopped…”

A fire Friday afternoon that heavily damaged a popular Irish pub and restaurant, as well as a catering business, started in a kitchen fryer. That’s the preliminary assessment from Springfield Fire Rescue Division Chief Nick Heimlich, who kept firefighters on the scene at McMurray’s Irish Pub, Paddy’s Backdoor Pizza and Carmae Catering, all housed at 122 E. College Ave., on Friday night.

Heimlich said firefighters found “an advanced fire” in the center of the structure and noted that the progression of the fire was very rapid. Because the three businesses are connected and under one roof “a problem in one pretty quickly becomes a problem in the others,” the chief said.

When the decision was made to pull back and take a defensive posture in battling the flames because crews weren’t making the kind of progress they wanted in putting out the fire, Heimlich said, “basically that means for the most part the structure is a loss.”

For more:  http://www.whiotv.com/news/news/local/mcmurrays-popular-springfield-pub-is-on-fire/nYFfP/

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4 Responses to Hospitality Industry Property Risks: Ohio Restaurant Fire Starts In “Kitchen Fryer” And Heavily Damages Structure; “Advanced Fire In Building’s Center” Limits Firefighters To Defensive Action

  1. If the fire in the fryer got worse when the employees tried to use an extinguisher they were most likely not using a proper “K” type extinguisher. If the automatic fire suppression system was current and up to code (including UL300) the system should have been able to put the fire out.
    The “rapid progression” could also indicate that the grease exhaust systems may have been in need of cleaning.

  2. If the fire in the fryer got worse when the employees tried to use an extinguisher they were most likely not using a proper “K” type extinguisher. If the automatic fire suppression system was current and up to code (including UL300) the system should have been able to put the fire out.
    The “rapid progression” could also indicate that the grease exhaust systems may have been in need of cleaning.

  3. Why don’t more insurance companies inspect their insured’s property to evaluate if the correct fire extinguishers are in place, the automatic fire suppression system is being serviced properly and that the grease exhaust system is being cleaned? So many of these types of losses are preventable.

  4. Why don’t more insurance companies inspect their insured’s property to evaluate if the correct fire extinguishers are in place, the automatic fire suppression system is being serviced properly and that the grease exhaust system is being cleaned? So many of these types of losses are preventable.