Two-alarm blaze breaks out at restaurant in downtown San Jose

SAN JOSE >> Fire crews battled a two-alarm fire that broke out at a downtown San Jose restaurant Friday morning that damaged the building and resulted in two eateries to temporarily close, according to authorities.

The fire was reported at 10:07 a.m. at City Fish on East Santa Clara Street near North Second Street, according to San Jose Fire Chief Cesar Martinez. Smoke was reported coming out of the roof of the seafood restaurant due to a grease fire that started after fryers were turned on at the beginning of the work day. Units arrived at the scene and put the fire under control at 11:07 a.m. PG&E was contacted and the building was secured.

No one was injured, but there was damage to the food system in the restaurant, resulting in the eatery's temporary closure, Martinez said. The exact cause and circumstances of the fire are under investigation.

“This was a secondalarm fire as a precaution due to the size of the building, the age of the building, the multiple tenants and the height of the building,” Martinez said. “We ended up mitigating the fire with the personnel we had here.”

Pastelaria Adega, located next door, also closed Friday due to the smoke that had drifted into the building during the fire.

Fernanda Carreira, who has owned the popular Portuguese bakery with her husband, Carlos, since 2019, said there was no damage to her eatery but that it would close because of the smoke.

“There's a little bit of a smoke, and I didn't want the product to get affected and I didn't want my customers coming in and smelling,” she said. “We have people cleaning later and will reopen (Saturday) morning.”