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The fire started at around 3 p.m. in a garbage shed at the rear of the building and spread to a nearby freezer. While Thunder Bay firefighters extinguished the blaze, a man wearing shorts, a T-shirt and a fedora-style hat entered the restaurant. “I couldn‘t believe (he did) that,” said Richard Blake, manager of the Red River Road McDonald‘s restaurant, who was on the scene. “You‘ve gotta love the Thunder Bay customers.” Blake ran into the restaurant to get the man out. The fire started in a garbage container in a wooden shed at the back of the building. Platoon chief John Mills said the blaze spread from the garbage bin to a freezer full of food. “It was hot enough that it got the insulation in the freezer burning,” Mills said. “When our guys pulled up, there were huge clouds of black smoke . . . fortunately it was confined to the back of the building.” Mills said the freezer and garbage unit were destroyed. There were no injuries, he said. A woman who didn‘t want to give her name said she was in the restaurant‘s play area with her three grandchildren when the fire started. She said the evacuation was unorganized and it was actually a customer who told her about the fire. “There was no alarm. Another patron came and said ’you have to vacate, there‘s a fire,‘” she said while standing in the parking lot. She said the alarms might not have gone off because the fire was on the outside of the building. “I‘ve got a bone to pick with them,” she said. The woman broke into tears while speaking with Blake. “The staff evacuated the patrons,” Blake said. “I talked to staff members who said they went around getting people to leave the restaurant. “Some people drinking coffee didn‘t believe them at the time,” Blake added. Mills said he thought he heard an alarm ringing when he arrived at the scene. “At this time of day there‘s people inside and it‘s not likely they‘d get trapped,” he said. Blake said he wasn‘t sure when the outlet will reopen. The cause of the fire was still unknown Monday night. Top of Page |
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September 2, 2010, 8:22 am |