Early morning fire damages North Highlands barbecue restaurant
An early morning fire Thursday damaged a North Highlands restaurant as Metro Fire firefighters battled the blaze.
The 2:30 a.m. fire outside Bear West BBQ & Soul Food in the 5900 block of Watt Avenue brought dozens of firefighters to the scene. No one was inside the business at the time and no injuries were reported. The fire appeared to start outside of the building before moving into the business, according to dispatchers’ recordings reviewed by The Sacramento Bee.
Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District crews arrived to heavy fire coming from the Watt Avenue side of the eatery, which sits at the end of a strip mall.
Firefighters initially took a defensive stance, fighting the blaze from the outside the building to stop its spread, before knocking down the flames enough for crews to enter the business, which had its windows boarded up because of vandalism earlier in the week.
Video from Metro Fire firefighters at the scene showed heavy, pluming smoke and visible flames before firefighters knocked down the blaze just after 3 a.m.
Crews were at work until about 5:30 a.m. mopping up the scene, according to Metro Fire.
The cause of the fire was under investigation.
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