A Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant in the Festival at Bel Air Shopping Center suffered an estimated $50,000 in damage from a grease fire Sunday afternoon, fire investigators said.
The fire in the restaurant at 5 Bel Air South Parkway was reported at 12:25 p.m., and firefighters from the Bel Air, Abingdon and Joppa-Magnolia volunteer fire companies were alerted, according to Rich Gardiner, spokesman for the Harford County Volunteer Fire & EMS Association.
Firefighters got the kitchen fire under control quickly, and there were no injuries, Gardiner said.
Gardiner noted on the association's public information page on Facebook that Harford County sheriff's deputies were contacted to handle "disorderly citizens" as people were being evacuated from the restaurant.
About 50 customers and 20 restaurant employees were in the building when the fire started, according to Senior Deputy State Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire.
Alkire wrote in an email that "the restaurant was not evacuated in a timely and orderly fashion that we would typically expect."
"Fortunately everyone was evacuated without injury," Alkire continued. "Deputy state fire marshalsare also continuing their investigation into an employee who did not listen to firefighters commands to remove himself from the premises and subsequently interfered with their duties while actively fighting the fire."
The restaurant remained closed about four hours after the fire was reported as representatives of the Harford County Health Department and Office of the State Fire Marshal continued their inspections of the facility.
"Estimated dollar loss is approximately $50,000 to equipment and loss of perishable items," Alkire stated in an email.
Alkire said the cause of the fire was accidental, and it started as a grease fire in one of the restaurant's deep fryers.
"We hope to open as soon as possible," Rob Thorpe, the restaurant's general manager, said Sunday afternoon.
A notice of investigation sent out Sunday evening by the Fire Marshal's Office states that the restaurant's fire suppression sprinkler system did not activate during the fire. The failure of the sprinklers to activate is also part of the post-fire investigation, the Fire Marshal's Office said.