Posted on 01/18/2014 3:56:26 PM PST by nickcarraway
Firefighters have put out the 4-alarm fire that destroyed Flames Restaurant in San Jose.
Firefighters have extinguished a 4-alarm fire that destroyed a San Jose diner Saturday morning, a fire battalion chief said.
The blaze broke out in the kitchen area of Flames Coffee Shop at 1812 Hillsdale Ave. around 6:20 a.m.
A few workers were preparing to open the restaurant at 1812 Hillsdale Ave. around 6:20 a.m. when the fire broke out in the kitchen area, San Jose fire Capt. Barry Ehlers said.
Ehlers said two of the employees ran to a fire station located just around the corner and alerted firefighters to the blaze.
By the time crews arrived on the scene about a minute later, thick black smoke was billowing from all sides of the restaurant, the captain said.
Fueled by cooking oils, furniture and other materials, the blaze ripped through the building, causing multiple sections of the roof to collapse.
Firefighters battled the fire from the outside and were able to keep it from spreading to neighboring businesses. The fire was knocked down around 7:30 a.m., the fire captain said.
No injuries were reported.
Marin County Wildfire in Hills Above Fairfax 50 Percent Contained The building was completely gutted by the fire, which Ehlers estimated caused more than $1 million in damage.
Although the blaze apparently began in the kitchen, investigators have not yet determined the exact cause.
Ehlers said about 75 firefighters responded to the fire, many of whom remained on scene as of 9 a.m. to root out hotspots.
Traffic is being diverted around Hillsdale and Ross avenues and onto nearby Camden Avenue.
Local news story and the people who own the place and their employees are good people too.
Sadly, the employees are now unemployed.
I thought you mentioned you liked that place. I don’t think I had been at that one in years. I always used to wonder if it was related to Three Flames.
This is the one down on Hillsdale
Didn’t the breakfast place near Nob Hill used to be a Flames, several iterations ago?
bummer ate breakfast there nearly every sunday morning for 20yrs
Not so much for the giant billowing fire as it is for you having a heart attack at 0230. It is not easy looking for house numbers posted in all sorts of different locations (or missing) while trying to see over the flashing lights and avoid hotting the cars parked in the street.
Your memory is better than mine - its been the Uptown Los Gatos Diner for as long as I can recall.
LG Cafe, I should say.
oh noes ! that’s too bad.
I saw the remains this morning and will miss the place.
Which Snob Hill?
The one in LG?
THE Iron Skillet has been there forever.
I don’t think it was a 3 flames.
I could be wrong, but I think it was at one time. Didn’t it also used to be called something with, “skillet,” in the name?
It’s not called iron skillet now, is it?
The Iron Skillet?
and to lower the odds of a no knock SWAT raid on the wrong address. Posting names, photos, and a pro-police union sign might be a good idea too.
A National treasure.
Amazing what too much money, insanity, and liberal guilt can achieve.
On Santa Teresa Blvd. near Nob Hill Market? I think it was still a “Flames” when I was there about a year ago. It had gone way downhill. There used to be numerous mile-high cakes and pies in the display case. Now there were only a couple and they looked “old .” And...the place smelled like sewage. Too bad, I used to like them, as close to a real diner as you’d get in So. San Jose.
My sister lives only about four blocks from this restaurant.
And there was that big warehouse fire a week ago Thursday. I work a block away from that one.
There have been a LOT of fires in San Jose in the last week. At least the fire at the Flames doesn’t sound like arson (the one up the street from me last week was).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.