Billowing smoke from eatery kitchen fire sparks 15 emergency calls
A busy central Napier street was closed to through traffic for much of yesterday afternoon after a restaurant kitchen fire.
Fire Emergency New Zealand received about 15 calls just after 2pm as smoke billowed from The Lucky Inn, a larger-format, single-level banquet-style Asian restaurant and takeaway business backing on to a BP service station and adjoining Spark Business Hawke’s Bay off Carlyle St, a few hundred metres from the CBD.
A wall separated the restaurant and the service station but firefighters were quick to stop the fire spreading.
There were thought to be no customers in the restaurant and only owners or staff on the premises. There were no reports of injuries.
With crews still at the scene an hour and a half later, Hawke’s Bay fire area assistant commander Glen Varcoe said the emergency had gone to a second alarm, with three crews from Napier being joined by two other crews.
Appliances included a Bronto truck with extended ladder and platform to enable safe access to the roof, with the fire having spread to the ceiling.
While there was little visible indication from the exterior and it was “a good save” in preventing the fire from spreading, he believed there was structural damage which would take time to repair.
“It’s not good in this environment, with the Covid crisis, and just starting to get back into business again,” he said.
It was regarded as accidental, he said, but investigators would be inspecting the building and the damage.