Afternoon fire closes two Tower District restaurants pending power restoration, cleanup
Two restaurants in Fresno’s Tower District were forced to close Sunday after a fire at one of them, the latest blow to a sector dealing with crippling restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.
Crews received reports of a fire at the Golden Restaurant at Olive Avenue and Fulton Street just after 2:30 p.m., according to Fresno Fire Battalion Chief William Veiga.
Firefighters arrived and found flames coming from the sign above the entrance of the Chinese food restaurant but were able to quickly extinguish the blaze.
The restaurant was conducting lunch service, Viega said, but no one inside was injured. And though damage appeared relatively light and the flames did not spread, Golden and another restaurant face at least short-term closures.
Golden Restaurant will need some cleanup, Viega said, with a county health inspector likely to order it before the business is allowed to again serve food.
Other businesses were not affected, beyond smoke, but power had to be shut down to the block as firefighters checked the attic to ensure the flames were out, mopped up and investigated the cause.
Richie’s Pizza, which is next-door, announced via a Facebook post that it hoped to reopen Monday.
“Due to a recent fire at the Golden Restaurant: Sending them all the love prayers their way,” the post stated. “We will be closing for the remainder of the day sorry for any inconveniences. We will reopen Monday at 10am.”
Early indications were that the fire was electrical in nature, “potentially (triggered by) the water from the rain we’re having now but that is still under investigation,” Viega said amid a small storm front that moved through the Valley this weekend.
Fresno County is part of the state’s San Joaquin Valley region, currently under a stay-at-home order imposed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom amid dwindling space in hospital intensive-care units as COVID-19 cases continue to surge.
Restaurants can be open during the stay-home order, but only for take-out and delivery orders.
This story was originally published December 13, 2020 at 5:55 PM.