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Employee's van catches fire outside restaurant
(by Sali McSherry - March 03, 2010)
Employee's van catches fire outside restaurant
By SALI McSHERRY
A car fire under the front awning of Bahama Breeze restaurant on Orange Place in Orange caused $25,000 damage to the building at about 11 p.m. Feb. 23.
"What absolutely saved the restaurant from further damage was the dry sprinkler system" in the awning, which was made of wood and particle board, Orange Fire Capt. Brian Hitt said.
A conversion van, owned by one of the employees, caught fire, sustained about $40,000 damage and was totaled, he said.
The employee told firefighters she was driving back to Bahama Breeze from a nearby restaurant on Orange Place, where she also worked, when she smelled a burning odor. She parked in front of the restaurant under the awning and rushed in to get some water. When she returned to the van, it was engulfed in flames, Mr. Hitt said.
About 25 people, mostly employees, were evacuated out the back door of the restaurant, Mr. Hitt said. No one was injured, he said.
It was the first time Orange used a new procedure for identifying the types of equipment and personnel they needed, said Mr. Hitt, who called it into dispatch as a "commercial box alarm."
Identifying it as a commercial box alarm was a code that meant they would receive mutual aid from Beachwood and Chagrin Falls, which supplied ladder trucks, and Solon and Pepper Pike, which supplied engines. A squad from Warrensville Heights was notified and arrived as well, he said. About 30 firefighters arrived on the scene, he said.
The fire was doused in about 20 minutes, said Mr. Hitt. They used water and Class A foam, which is sudsy and "does a nice job" by stretching the water, making it adhere better to materials and cooling things faster, he said.
Cause of the fire is under investigation, Mr. Hitt said, and based on the victim's information, it may have been the electronics installed in the van that included an enormous stereo system with speakers.
The fire department received two notices, one through dispatch for a car fire at the restaurant and an alarm that was triggered by the sprinkler system, Mr. Hitt said.
The new Orange firefighters' protocol, which recently was instituted, also identifies specific orders for a residential box alarm and a mass-casualties box alarm.
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