LAURINBURG – Hungry customers looking to grab a bite to eat left Bojangles’ Famous Chicken ‘n Biscuits without either biscuits or chicken for a portion of Tuesday.

The Main Street fast food restaurant was closed briefly due to a fire inside the business just after midnight that morning.

The culprit for the blaze was deep fryer, according to Laurinburg Fire Chief Randy Gibson.

“We found in the kitchen area that a deep fryer was accidentally left turned on and it heated up enough to ignite the grease,” Gibson said.

A fire suppression system in the kitchen doused the fire before if could cause structural or smoke damage. Officials said the fire did cause about $2,000 in damage to the fryer.

“The store’s fire system did its job,” said Roger Williamson, manager for Fire Control Systems who services Bojangles’ fire suppression system. “By the time the fire department got there the fire was out.”

Williamson said his Charlotte-based company got the call around 1:30 a.m. and was on scene by 4 a.m.

to the fryer but caused no structural or smoke damage.

“We ventilated with fans and removed the smoke,” said Gibson.

Williamson’s crew recharged the store’s fire system which consists of changing out the tanks that hold fire suppression chemicals.

Gibson said that cleanup was well underway by Tuesday afternoon and that efforts were being made toward reopening the store.

The fire department and Williamson advised employees as to how to clean up the chemicals and fire damage, according to Kisha Locklear, Scotland County environmental health inspector.

“When I got there at 9:15 they had already done [most of the work],” Locklear said. “I went back by about 12:30 and gave them the go ahead to open back up.”

The store reopened at 2:15 p.m. Tuesday.

A sign on the door of Bojangles let customers know the business was closed temporarily on Tuesday.
https://www.laurinburgexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_bojangles-IMG_8933-1.jpgA sign on the door of Bojangles let customers know the business was closed temporarily on Tuesday.

By Beth Lawrence

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Reach Beth Lawrence 910-506-3169