Local News

Mountaineer Family Diner damaged as grill fire speads into ducts

PARKERSBURG -- A fire early Tuesday morning apparently spread into the duct work at a Parkersburg restaurant, a fire official said.

Departments were dispatched around 5:20 a.m. to the Mountaineer Family Diner on East Seventh Street off U.S. 50 for a fire that started after the grills were lit, said Ron Utt, acting chief of the Eastwood Volunteer Fire Department.

The fire was under control in about 20 minutes, but had spread into the heating and cooling duct and the exhaust ducts over the stoves in the kitchen, he said. Firefighters had difficulty dousing hot spots in the duct work, he said.

Grease may have caught fire when the grills were turned on, Utt said. Then, grease in the exhaust duct caught fire, he said.

Most of the damage outside the kitchen was from smoke and water, he said.

Doug West, who leases the restaurant, said the fire occurred after the grills in the kitchen were turned on at about 5:15 a.m. He was unsure when the restaurant will be open.

"I'm just glad nobody got hurt," he said.

Also responding to the fire were the Vienna, Mineral Wells, Deerwalk and Blennerhassett departments, the state fire marshal, which is procedure at a commercial establishment, and an ambulance squad from Camden Clark.