RICHMOND, Va. -- An intense fire did significant damage to the rear patio and storage area at Carytown Burgers & Fries in Richmond.
The Carytown location remained closed Friday afternoon following the early morning fire.
Officials said the first call to 9-1-1 came around 4:25 a.m. Video posted to social media showed the rear of the structure engulfed in flames.
An RVA staple, Carytown Burgers and Fries, was engulfed in flames right behind my house early this morning… pic.twitter.com/4prz6vCqD1
— mobara (@SarahMobara) January 12, 2024
Fire crews were able to get the fire under control about an hour and a half later, shortly before 6 a.m.
Officials said the extent of the damage is being assessed, but from the outside of the building, most of the damage appeared isolated to the back side of the building and no damage was visible from Cary Street.
The cause remains under investigation, and officials said no one was hurt.
Kevin Storm, the head brewer at Garden Grove Brewery which sits directly next to Carytown Burgers and Fries, pulled into work Friday to see the damage and fire crews finishing up their work.
"The way that fire took off on their property; we have a partition that’s about 20 feet away from where the fire was, 20 feet away, completely melted to the ground," Storm said. "Had it come into the brewery, we have open gas lines running all the time, massive amounts of pressure on tanks, bottles of oxygen, everything like that. It would have been worse for the block but still terrible for them.”
New owners took over the Carytown Burgers and Fries not long ago, and although Storm is thankful the worst-case scenario did not play out, his thoughts are turning toward their business neighbors who have to deal with the fallout and clean up.
“It’s awful so we’re just going to do everything we can to help them out," Storm said.
The Richmond restaurant is obviously dealing with a lot right now, so messages to Carytown Burgers and Fries via social media have not yet returned.
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