A small fire in the back of the kitchen at Patriot Cafe at 1004 E. Dewey Ave. created what owner Chad Cacy described as a “giant oven effect” that caused heat and smoke damage to the entire store.
Cacy says the Fire Marshal believes the fire started at about 10:00 PM last night and smoldered through the night, when it was discovered by a food delivery truck driver at about 6:00 AM Tuesday morning.
Fire Marshals have not yet determined the cause of the fire, and Cacy says it’s strange, because there’s nothing electrical near where the fire started.
White walls, ceilings are now grayish-black with smoke damage, and the windows are tinted brown with a smoky glaze. White styrofoam and plastic on the other side of the building is melted and drooping. Cacy says they’re lucky it was discovered when it was. “Fire Marshal says that it was about to take over everything.”
Because of the smoke and soot damage, Cacy says they’ll be closed at least a week, but he says he may take the opportunity to do a remodel that he was planning on doing soon, anyway. “I took a picture of a cross we have over there that says ‘blessed’, because we are, it could’ve been so much worse.”
