Chili’s open after fire outside building

DALTON — Despite a roaring fire outside its building Tuesday morning, the Chili’s Grill & Bar on College Drive in Dalton was open for business as usual.

Restaurant manager Brian Reese said that the fire from a trailer and a van around 7:30 a.m. had no effect on the interior of the building and the restaurant opened at its normal time of 11 a.m.

In video posted on the Northwest Georgia Scanner Facebook page, a van and trailer are shown engulfed in flames as an officer from the Dalton Police Department and a fire department vehicle pull up.

The video was taken by Rick Eaton, who said he was sitting in the drive-thru line at the Bojangles’ across the street when he saw the flames.

The van and the trailer were on the side of the building toward College Drive near the Walnut Avenue exit of Interstate 75.

According to Dalton Fire Department Chief Todd Pangle, the fire began in the trailer that is owned by ProWash Cleaning Services in Crandall.

The fire spread from the trailer to the van.

A person who answered the business number for ProWash Cleaning Services confirmed no one was injured and declined to comment further.

“There was pressure-washing equipment in there and a water heater and that is where the fire began,” Pangle said. “We will list it as a mechanical failure, but because of the extent of the damage, we’ll never fully know exactly what happened.

“Outside of that, the structure of the building was really unaffected except for maybe some smoke damage on an awning.”