Grease Fire Rips Through Pantry Diner

An early morning fire ripped through the roof of the on Monday, and officials said the cause was an oven that was left on overnight.

According to John Thorp, 1st assistant chief of the Rockville Centre Fire Department, units responded to the call around 2:40 a.m., and arrived to see 20-foot flames shooting up from the diner's roof. He said the fire started in the kitchen, where an oven had been left on overnight. Grease in the air ducts caught fire, he explained, and since those ducts lead to the roof, the fire traveled through them to the diner's roof.

Thorp said the eatery's Ansul system — a fire suppression unit utilized to protect kitchen equipment from fire — extinguished a lot of the flames inside the diner's kitchen, however, the flames melted a significant portion of its interior. "The stuff in the kitchen would be unrecognizable to most people," Thorp said.

The fire was under control within an hour, he said, and there were no injuries sustained. Four neighboring departments assisted in extinguishing the blaze.

Thorp said the kitchen was extensively damaged, as was the roof. The rest of the diner suffered water damage, he said.