2023-06-07

Blaze breaks out at Cookville restaurant

COOKVILLE - A pair of restaurants in the shopping district here temporarily shuttered because of a grill fire that broke out inside one of the eateries on May 24.

Just before 11 a.m., volunteer fire departments in Bridgewater and Northfield district were summoned to the Swiss Chalet and Harvey's restaurants where dispatch informed responding crews that a blaze ignited on the grill on the Harvey's side of the building.

The building, located near the corner of Highway 10 and Pine Grove Road, was in the process of evacuating, public safety radio communications indicated at the time.

First-responding crews attempted to douse the flames with an extinguisher, according to radio traffic.

Darren Mulock, Northfield's fire chief, didn't respond to a request for a phone interview for this story.

A representative of restaurant ownership, Megan Oickle-Linloff, when reached by LighthouseNOW, said in an electronic message she was too busy dealing with the situation to comment. No one responded to a message sent to the restaurant's social media page requesting a phone interview for this story.

"Thank you goes out to our staff who acted quickly and professionally this morning and thank you to our local fire departments ... who responded quickly to our calls and offered us assistance and help," a written message posted by the restaurant on social media reads.

"We are thankful no one was hurt and that is the most important thing ..."

The restaurants were to stay closed until cleanup finished. "Thank you everyone for their calls and concerns and making sure everyone was okay. We have the best community."

Firefighters did manage to knock down the flames and examined the site with thermal imaging technology, including a scan of the roofline. Emergency crews manually shut-off propane supply and a technician from a service provider was requested to reinstate the system.

Responders starting clearing from the call just after noon. There was no immediate word on what caused the fire.