Mel's Diner in Lafayette will be closed for the forseeable future, after a fire left a major damage inside the restaurant. Mel's reopened for takeout service today, and video evidence shows the fire was an accident.
"All of our employees are safe nobody was in the building, that's our main concern," says Keith Bond.
Thankful that no one was injured, Mel's Diner Vice President, Keith Bond says he was devastated when he got the phone call that their Lafayette location was on fire.
"This was our day one to go back go gradually ease back into to-go's with hopefully with the governor lifting the May 1st order so we can get back and do dine-in service and apparently it's going to be postponed for awhile," says Bond.
Mel's closed Thursday at 2 o'clock, the last employee left the building about an hour before the first 911 calls came in at 5:39 P.M.
According to the fire department, video evidence shows the fire starting in a malfunctioning appliance.
"The fire did start in the kitchen area. It seems like the fire started on one of the griddles inside used for cooking. It has substantial damage on the inside unfortunately, but the good thing we were able to get on scene within five minutes and put the fire out in 10 to 15 minutes," says Bond.
Bond says although reopening to regular dine-in business will take a little longer now, he's optimistic to get back to normal.
"It's not a devastating loss...The building is still here. We're just excited and happy to get back at it and it's certainly a set back. So everybody's here to help so we're just happy about that. So we'll see what happens tomorrow when we regroup," says Bond.
