Fire chief: Fire’s cause pending
Published 12:58 pm Friday, August 12, 2011
Bob and Lisa Nelson embrace as they watch as firefighters battle a fire inside their business, the Restaurant Warehouse, Tuesday night. -- Herald file photo
Austin Fire Chief Mickey Healey said the investigation into a Tuesday fire at the Restaurant Warehouse will likely come to a close soon.
The Austin Fire Department’s portion of the investigation is complete, Healey said, but the insurance agency has yet to make a loss determination.
Austin Fire Chief Mickey Healey talks to the media just outside of the Restaurant Warehouse which suffered extensive damage from a fire Tuesday evening. Scroll down for video.
“We’re just waiting on some final information from the insurance agency,” Healey said Thursday.
The cause of the fire will likely be publicly released early next week, he said.
The fire began around 5:35 p.m. Tuesday night. A passerby noticed smoke coming out the windows of the Restaurant Warehouse, located at 608 10th St. NE, and notified police.
The blaze stayed toward the back of the building, only leaving light smoke damage in the front office area. The rest of the building sustained “extensive structure damage,” including damage to the roof, Healey said.
Owner Bob Nelson said the roof was replaced about three years ago. He said Tuesday he was in “disbelief” to see the fire tearing through his business.
The warehouse had between $100,000 and $150,000 of merchandise in it during the fire, Nelson said. He said he is fully insured.
Nobody was in the building during the fire, and nobody was injured.
The Austin Fire Department was called to the Restaurant Warehouse in June for a small fire caused by holiday decorations that spontaneously combusted.
