EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to add information and correct the time that firefighters were called to the scene.
HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Holland and Graafschap firefighters responded to the report of a fire at about 4:45 p.m. Monday, May 27, 2019.
Everyone was evacuated from the building, according to Holland Fire Capt. Chris Tinney and the restaurant owners.
No one was hurt, Tinney said, but it’s the second such fire in the exact same place. The last was on Sept. 29, 2017.
The fire started when someone discarded a cigarette too close to the building — near the “no smoking” zone — and the cigarette embers lit wood chips surrounding the landscaping next to a building entrance, Tinney said. The burning wood chips lit a decorative column on fire, and the flames traveled up into an overhang but didn’t get inside the building, Tinney said.
If that had of happened after hours, he said, “we’d be tearing off the roof.”
Instead, an employee smelled smoke and saw smoke in the dining area. Everyone evacuated. The dinner rush had just started, so the restaurant wasn’t crowded, said Jade Pietrangelo, whose family owns the restaurant.
One employee attempted to douse the fire as someone else called 911. But it took firefighters to douse the small blaze. They were able to contain it to an exterior part of the restaurant, Tinney said, with no interior damage. Still, Village Inn will be closed until the health inspector checks it out.
And, since this is the second time firefighters have been called to a nearly identical incident, firefighters will be working with the restaurant’s owners to limit the chance that a discarded cigarette will start a fire.
The area of Monday’s fire is right next to a column bearing a sign stating no one is to smoke in the area. Tinney speculated that a smoker wanted to get out of the rain may have ducked under the portico, and simply didn’t make sure the discarded cigarette was out.
Tinney said smoker should stay at least 25 feet away from a building, and ensure they have a fireproof container for cigarettes being discarded.
Even Sunday evening, employees turned away a series of customers.
