Burger King outlet gets flame-grilling
By JARED MORGAN - The Southland Times | Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Smoked: Black smoke pouring from Invercargill's Burger King outlet yesterday as firefighters enter the building.
The lunchtime rush turned into an emergency after staff noticed smoke building up around the ceiling of the restaurant at the corner of Elles Rd and Tay St shortly before 1pm.
The smoke prompted the evacuation of the restaurant while customers waiting in the drive-thru were also sent packing.
The nine staff working at the time stood on the footpath on Elles Rd as the fast-food outlet filled with acrid black smoke.
"It's just gone on fire in the vent, we don't know anything," one staff member said.
Invercargill Fire Service acting chief fire officer Neil Ladbrook said at the scene the sandwich construction of the ceiling and roof of the building was a concern because its construction meant "flash-over" could happen easily — possibly leading to collapse.
Two appliances initially attended the blaze with Mr Ladbrook calling a second alarm meaning a further two were shortly on the scene.
Elles Rd between between Forth and Tay streets was closed to traffic with diversions in place.
Firefighters equipped with breathing apparatus entered the building with a thermal imaging camera to ascertain the extent of the blaze while a positive pressure ventilation fan was used to evacuate smoke from the restaurant, Mr Ladbrook said.
Incident controller at the scene Alan Goldsworthy said the cause of the fire had been traced to a large extractor fan in the ceiling that had been disconnected to allow repairs, but a broiler in the kitchen that was not supposed to be used was in use at the time.
"It was in use causing heat to build up, igniting fat deposits." However, a spokesman for the restaurant brand's parent company TPF Restaurants Ltd disputed that claim, saying the fan and broiler could not be used in isolation from each other.
TPF Restarants Ltd general manager Glenn Corbett said once damage to the restaurant was assessed the company hoped to re-open it within a week.
Firefighters stayed at the scene for two hours monitoring the situation while damage was limited to the ceiling and roof surrounding the extraction fan.
Unlike other fast-food outlets, Burger King was not a franchise-based operation in New Zealand, being owned by TPF Restaurants Ltd.
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