Fire Races Through Restaurant

A restaurant owner and several restaurant workers were laying new carpet on the restaurant floor before the business opened for the day. After the project had been underway for about an hour, fire broke out. It spread through the building and destroyed the restaurant. The owner-manager was severely burned and died almost at once. A waiter died in a hospital a week later. Two kitchen workers preparing food also were burned, one seriously.

The carpet adhesive, containing a flammable organic compound, had been spread through the area where the carpet was being laid. It ignited, possibly from a heater used for drying the newly laid carpet. The work was being done in cold weather with windows being opened for ventilation.