Firefighters respond to McCall's; restaurant's smoke pit damaged
By John Joyce
Published in News on February 22, 2015 1:50 AM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Goldsboro Fire Capt. Julian Whitney uses a hose to extinguish a fire in the cooking building behind McCall's Bar-B-Q & Seafood on Saturday. No one was injured in the fire, but there was substantial damage to the building.
Smoke rising over the treetops near the intersection of U.S. 70 East and N.C. Highway 111 South Saturday had diners on edge as they traced the source of the smoke back to McCall's Bar-B-Q and Seafood.
The restaurant itself was never threatened, but the small building outside the establishment where the barbecue pits are contained suffered extensive damage, according to a Goldsboro Fire Department report.
"It started to one side, but then went up to the roof and ran the roof line," Assistant Fire Chief James Farfour said.
An employee attempted to extinguish the fire after noticing the pit had flamed up, the report said -- using two fire extinguishers -- but was unable to prevent the fire from spreading.
Crews from both Goldsboro and El-Roy Fire Departments responded to the blaze, which happened to be just inside the Goldsboro city limits.
Interior units slowed the spread of the fire while an exterior team extinguished areas not accessible from inside, the report said.
GFD Capt. Julian Whitney, while at times straddling two ladders, spent several minutes tearing apart the apex of the roof to gain access to the fire, and then asked to be handed up a hose.
Once he made sure his fellow firefighters were safely out of the building, Whitney opened the nozzle and sent water through the hole he created -- attacking the fire in the roof.
In all, 28 firefighters convened on the smokehouse behind McCall's.
"We have a mutual aid agreement," Farfour said. "El-Roy responds even if it is in our district because they are closer."
Meanwhile, lunch service and carry-out dining continued inside the restaurant.
Leslie Oaks, a member of the family that owns the business, said the local favorite was in no danger of closing down due to the fire.
"We have another location so it won't be ... the cookers don't look, they're not damaged," she said.
Several employees rushed to the structure as soon as it was safe to retrieve frozen goods from inside in an attempt to salvage all they could.
"They're going to have to keep all that food separated until the health department can inspect the freezer," Farfour said. "It will be up to them to make the call about keeping the food or not."
According to the report, the building and its contents suffered an estimated $10,000 in damages.