AUBURN – The owners of a popular breakfast restaurant have been forced to close their doors until Sunday morning.
Bagels & Things on Center Street shut down Friday morning after a grease fire started in the restaurant’s deep fryer.
An employee put the fire out with an extinguisher. The fire itself didn’t cause much damage, but the foam used to put it out left the restaurant’s food and countertops covered with a toxic chemical.
Following procedure, a state food and health inspector responded to the scene and ordered the restaurant owners to throw away all of the contaminated food and shut down until everything was wiped down and sterilized.
Manager Mike Rossignol expected the cleanup to take two days.
“We should be open by 7 or 8 on Sunday morning,” he said.
According to Rossignol, the fire started after the thermostat on the fryer broke and the temperature of the oil rose to 500 degrees.
The fire was out by the time firetrucks pulled up. Firefighters ventilated the building and left the scene.
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