Faulty equipment is believed to be the cause of a fire that gutted Fazoli's on Westwood Boulevard, officials said Monday after an inspection of the scene with a state fire marshal.
It appears the fire started in the rear of the building, near a ventless, on demand water heater, said city fire chief Ralph Stucker. The fire was hot enough here to melt a portion of PVC attached to the unit.
"It is being ruled as accidental. We think it was a piece of equipment that malfunctioned, but it will be up to the insurance company to have an engineer tear it apart," Stucker said.
Firefighters were called to the building at 1:17 a.m. Monday by a passerby. It took about four hours and an estimated 195,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire.
Three fire trucks responded initially, but a full call back of all of the city's off-duty firefighters was initiated less than 15 minutes after the first call because of the size of the fire.
The fire had already broken through the roof by the time it was reported, Stucker said.
Restaurants of less than 5,000 square feet are not required by city code to have a fire suppression system, and the building did not have an alarm system. Constructed around 1986, the Fazoli's building is approximately 4,000 square feet.
Personnel were able to enter the building early in the fight, Stucker said.
"They made it to the kitchen. Conditions deteriorated, and they were pulled out," he said.
The majority of the fire was above the ceiling, Stucker said.
"They were seeing it drop down in the corner, but could not get to it," he said.
A blocked rear door had caused difficulty accessing the back portion of the building, Stucker said. Firefighters were forced to cut a hole in a portion of the wall with a chain saw in attempt to gain access.
The flames damaged the roof, which held three large air conditioning units. Two of the units came through the roof, falling into the back portion of the building after firefighters were evacuated.
The building is owned by TRICO Corporation and operated by Jack Duckett. It opened as Fazoli's in 2010, and was previously a Hardee's.