Hotel / Restaurant, Restaurant Madison, WI – Overnight restaurant fire contained by sprinkler system; Business reopens next day September 9, 2016 viking210 An automatic sprinkler system saved a Downtown restaurant from significant damage after a kitchen fire early Wednesday. Aichan Weng, who goes by “Wendy,” said she should have her restaurant, Dragon I, 422 State St., back open by 2 p.m. Thursday after meeting with her insurance adjuster and the city health department. Her insurance agent Brad Dillman of Dillman Insurance said Weng just needs to replace a sprinkler head and clean up a bit. A passerby noticed a fire inside Dragon I just after 12:30 a.m. and called 911, said fire department spokesperson Cynthia Schuster. The caller said the fire was in the back kitchen and that the sprinkler system had already been activated. Upon arrival, firefighters saw the fire and broke a glass door to enter the restaurant, Schuster said in a release. In the kitchen, they found a large pot with something burning inside and around it. They believe what was burning was a plastic cutting board laid on top of the pot while the stove burner was still set on “low,” she said. Firefighters extinguished the fire, and turned off the burner and the automatic sprinklers. “Fire damage had been well contained thanks to the automatic sprinkler,” Schuster said, adding that there was no water damage to the restaurant because of a floor drain under the activated sprinkler head. Weng, who also owns Ichiban on Park Street, bought Dragon I in 2014 from Ray Sze, who also used to own Nam’s Noodle restaurant on Regent Street. She said she couldn’t yet put a price tag on any damage to the restaurant. “It’s no big deal,” she said. “It’s so lucky there are no big problems.” The 4-year-old Dragon I serves all types of Southeast Asian cuisine: Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, Singaporean and Malaysian. It also offers some Korean, Japanese and Chinese selections.
