The kitchen of an Ellis Street cafe, the Knife and Slice, was destroyed and adjacent businesses were smoked out from a fire that was sparked Tuesday evening.
Kelowna fire dispatch received numerous calls of smoke showing from the roof of a building at 1443 Ellis Street in Kelowna at 7:20 p.m., Aug. 14., and dispatched three engines, a command vehicle and a rescue vehicle with 15 personnel.
“First arriving crews observed a single storey structure containing three commercial businesses, with light smoke showing from the top of the building, and also smoke could be seen through the front glass windows,” said Henry Roelofs, KFD platoon captain.
“All the businesses had been safely evacuated prior to fire crews arriving.”
Challenging firefighters’ efforts was the design of the building. Roelofs said it made the fire difficult to locate and firefighters were faced with zero visibility and extreme temperatures while searching for the main fire area.
“Once the fire was located in the kitchen area of the café, it was quickly brought under control, but hot spots kept the crews busy for over an hour,” he said.
Although the fire was contained to the one business, there was smoke damage to the two adjacent businesses in the same building. A fire investigator has been requested to attend and try determine the cause of the fire.
Preliminary damage estimate is in excess of $150,000
