A fire broke out in one of the restrooms at a new Brick Township restaurant. The Flaming Grille, a buffet-style restaurant in the Kennedy Mall shopping center, nearly lived up to its name Tuesday afternoon when a fire broke out about 4 p.m., officials said.
The Breton Woods and Pioneer Hose fire companies responded to the scene and found the fire had already been put out by the restaurant’s sprinkler system, said Kevin Batzel, director of the Brick Township Bureau of Fire Prevention.
Batzel said investigators determined the fire was started when smoking materials had been disposed of in the bathroom trash can. The activation of the sprinkler system helped avert a much larger fire, Batzel said. One sprinkler head activated during the incident.
“It’s an old building,” Batzel explained. “[The fire] would have traveled up pretty fast into that building.” There were a small number of patrons in the restaurant at the time, Batzel said. All were evacuated. The bureau is following up today at the restaurant, which is back in operation. “If it was not for the sprinkler system, that restaurant would be shut down,” said Batzel.
A chimney fire damaged sections of the Stratton Mountain base lodge Tuesday morning. No one was hurt in the fire that started in Grizzly’s Bar and Restaurant, located on the second floor of the lodge, and was discovered around 5:30 a.m.
Stratton Mountain Resort officials stated that the fire was contained to Grizzly’s kitchen and was put out with help from local fire companies, Stratton employees and the sprinkler system.
“There was no one in the building,” said Stratton Mountain Marketing Director Myra Foster. “We’re meeting with the fire marshal and the inspector to determine clean-up steps and get an ETA on reopening.”
Shops in the village were operating along with lifts, Foster told the Reformer around 9:15 a.m. At that time, yellow caution tape was keeping people out of the lodge. Members of the Stratton Mountain Volunteer Fire Department were seen walking into the first floor from a rear access near the parking lot while a Winhall Fire Department truck was parked near another access by the gondola with hoses running into the building.
Damage beyond the kitchen was mostly due to water and clean up was under way. Guest services, ticket windows, Stratton Sports, bag check and rentals will be open in the base lodge.
Officials hope to have the building, besides the kitchen, fully operation by the weekend. But that will depend upon fire marshal approval. Foster said the Stratton department was the first to respond.
“There was damage to the food and beverage office in getting access to the fire and we’re assessing damage,” she said. “The east wing was unaffected. There is water damage in the west wing.”
Visitors to the ski resort were being directed to park at Sun Bowl, another section of the mountain with parking and a base lodge. Skiers and snowboarders could then get back to the main base area where other services were still in operation. According to a snow report, eight lifts and 97 trails were open.
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
