Fire cooks eatery
Kitchen blaze leads to evacuation of Merivale Rd. office tower
By DONNA CASEY, SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 17th September 2009, 3:27am
A popular Chinese buffet eatery will be shut indefinitely after a ventilation duct fire that cleared a five-storey office building yesterday morning.
More than 50 firefighters responded to a three-alarm call at Buffet Yangming at Emerald Plaza at 1574 Merivale Rd. at 9:40 a.m. after smoke coming from the building roof triggered fire alarms.
Masha Krupp, who runs a translation service company on the building's top floor, said she could smell smoke in the stairwell of the second floor as she evacuated with her 100 employees.
Once Krupp and her staff got outside to a nearby parking lot, she could see flames and thick black smoke coming from the building's roof.
"We were a little concerned because that's where our business is," said Krupp.
Fire investigators believe the blaze started in the kitchen of the restaurant and moved its way up to the roof through the ventilation system.
"The fire didn't extend to the rest of the restaurant. It was all contained in the ventilation system," said fire platoon chief Dennis Gobey.
The cause is still under investigation, with damages estimated at $150,000. There were no reported injuries.
DONNA.CASEY@SUNMEDIA.CA
Kitchen blaze leads to evacuation of Merivale Rd. office tower
By DONNA CASEY, SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 17th September 2009, 3:27am
A popular Chinese buffet eatery will be shut indefinitely after a ventilation duct fire that cleared a five-storey office building yesterday morning.
More than 50 firefighters responded to a three-alarm call at Buffet Yangming at Emerald Plaza at 1574 Merivale Rd. at 9:40 a.m. after smoke coming from the building roof triggered fire alarms.
Masha Krupp, who runs a translation service company on the building's top floor, said she could smell smoke in the stairwell of the second floor as she evacuated with her 100 employees.
Once Krupp and her staff got outside to a nearby parking lot, she could see flames and thick black smoke coming from the building's roof.
"We were a little concerned because that's where our business is," said Krupp.
Fire investigators believe the blaze started in the kitchen of the restaurant and moved its way up to the roof through the ventilation system.
"The fire didn't extend to the rest of the restaurant. It was all contained in the ventilation system," said fire platoon chief Dennis Gobey.
The cause is still under investigation, with damages estimated at $150,000. There were no reported injuries.
DONNA.CASEY@SUNMEDIA.CA
