Kitchen Fire Damages San Jose Strip Mall Restaurant
SAN JOSE (BCN) - Firefighters have extinguished a two-alarm kitchen fire that broke out inside of a restaurant in a San Jose strip mall Thursday morning, a San Jose fire captain said.
At about 1:20 a.m., a clerk working at a Quik Stop gas station reported that smoke was coming from La Gaviota Restaurant, a neighboring eatery within the single-story strip mall, located at 1130 Lucretia Ave., San Jose fire Capt. Debbie Ward said.
Firefighters arrived at the scene and found smoke and flames pouring out of the restaurant's kitchen, according to Ward.
Ward said that firefighters were able to contain the blaze within about 30 minutes.
No employees were inside the facility at the time of the fire, Ward said, and no injuries were reported.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but Battalion Chief Jose Guerrero believes that electrical wiring inside of a storage closet may have ignited the blaze.
Guerrero estimated the damage to amount to $200,000.
"The place suffered severe smoke and fire damage," he said. "They won't be open for business until some serious remodeling is done."
As a precaution, firefighters requested that PG&E turn off the central electricity line running through the mall.
Guerrero had no estimate as to when power would be restored.
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