MARGIE TRAX PAGE
Star Beacon
August 02, 2007 12:23 pm
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GENEVA - - The fire at Mar-G's Restaurant Sunday night may have been caused by faulty wiring in a cooler and spread by the contents of a nearby wastebasket, the Geneva Fire Department reports.
Firefighters called to scene at 8:30 p.m. Sunday, found smoke showing from the restaurant's roof. The glass windows shattered from the heat as firefighters ran into the burning structure and accessed the top floor with a ladder truck.
Firefighters from Geneva, Geneva Township, Harpersfield Township and Saybrook Township took turns working on the first-floor blaze, which was extinguished within a half hour.
The Geneva Fire Department unofficially estimates damages of $50,000 to the building and $75,000 to the contents, Capt. Randy Goff said.
"The fire marshal investigated, and we are waiting for that report. So everything is unofficial right now," he said.
Fire investigator Jim Anderson called the cause of the fire "undetermined but probable."
"We can never say what the cause of a fire is unless we are 100 percent sure, and in electrical fires you can never really be 100 percent sure, unless the insurance company hires a private fire investigator," Anderson said. "So officially, the cause of the fire is, and will remain, undetermined."
The restaurant was closed, and no one was in the building at the time of the fire. The Geneva Fire Department reports no one was injured in the fire.
Restaurant owner Margie Snyder was treated for hyperventilation and anxiety, as she was overcome with emotion.
Anderson said the firefighters' efforts saved much of the building, which is located at Route 84 and Route 534.
"There was very little fire damage to the building: heat damage, yes, but very little fire damage," Anderson said. "For those guys to get into that vacant building as fast as they did - - I mean, they did a great job."
The effort wasn't without obstacles. The fire hydrant on Route 84, closest to the building, wasn't unusable, as it had been struck by a vehicle. Firefighters used a hydrant on Route 534 and also ran extension hoses to a hydrant east of the fire scene, on Route 84.
The commercial property is owned by Jim Miller who recently broke ground on the property to add another structure, Snyder said.
Star Beacon Print Edition: 7/31/2007
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