United States (North Carolina) - A blaze seriously damaged a popular Hamlet restaurant during Tuesday's early morning hours. Hamlet Police Sgt. Eddie Smith saw smoke coming from Fiesta Brava while performing his normal patrol at around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday and alerted the Hamlet Fire Department, according to City Fire Chief David Knight.

Knight said the department responded with a fire engine, ladder truck and about 16 firefighters and brought the flames under control by 7 a.m. It burnt through the roof.

"When we arrived on the scene, there was heavy smoke," Knight explained Tuesday morning in the restaurant's parking lot. "Eventually the fire burnt through the roof, and we were able to get to the origin of the fire and put it out."

Knight said the source of the blaze was in a storage room beside the kitchen, and it did not appear to be intentionally set.

No firefighters were injured during the blaze.

There is no word on the monetary value of the damage.Fiesta Brava General Manager Armando Torres is the son of the restaurant's owner, Jesus Torres. He said the property insurance on the building had recently expired.

"We've always been working with the building, trying to get it just right," Torres explained Tuesday afternoon. "All of my father's living is tied up in the restaurant -- his whole life."

He said the family was told the fire started at an outlet in the storage room, and spread up the wall, eventually burning through the roof.

"They told us it was completely accidental during the walk-through, and there was nothing we could've done to prevent it," Torres said. "Even if we'd had that outlet checked out, there was no way of telling this would happen."

A North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations officer on the scene Tuesday morning declined to comment on the investigation into the blaze. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is also looking into it.

Fiesta Brava opened about 10 years ago in Hamlet, and has been awarded "Best of the Best" awards by county residents.

Torres said it has sponsored numerous causes such as churches, school supply drives, the Ellerbe softball league and a traveling gymnastics team from Hamlet.

He said the family plans to rebuild, but don't know when that might happen yet.

"I've been with my father all morning, and he told me it's going to take a long time to get back up and running," Torres said.

Written by Richmond County Daily Journal