One of Victoria’s most highly acclaimed restaurants was minutes away from being consumed by flames when a fitness instructor spotted smoke billowing into an alleyway Tuesday morning.
Liz Lampard said she was teaching a class at Dynamo Training about 6:40 a.m. when she smelled smoke coming from neighbouring Café Brio, a high-end restaurant at 944 Fort St.
The woman told her clients to go home and started searching the alleyway between the businesses for the source of the smoke.
“It was quite dark out, so I kept looking around and finally I could see the smoke coming out of the vent from the back door of Café Brio,” Lampard said. “The smell was so strong near the back of the building, it couldn’t be anything else [but fire].”
She said area businesses have been on high alert since an April fire destroyed Sen Zushi Japanese restaurant at 940 Fort St.
Lampard called the Victoria Fire Department and a crew rushed to the scene and broke down the front door, said battalion chief Jeff Zigay.
Firefighters were faced with heavy smoke in the kitchen but could not find the source.
They used a thermal imaging camera to detect a significant electrical fire in the wall between the kitchen and the staff bathroom, Zigay said.
“The firemen said 10 more minutes and the building could have been engulfed,” said Café Brio owner Greg Hays, who was called out of bed Tuesday morning. “If it hadn’t been for the girl next door, we would have lost our building.
“There might be a free dinner for her at some point,” he said.
Café Brio has been a popular dining spot for 17 years.
Earlier this month, Hays and his wife, Silvia Marcolini, were inducted into the B.C. Restaurant and Foodservices Association’s Hall of Fame.
“They’re incredibly lucky that someone saw the smoke,” Zigay said. He said the fire caused about $40,000 in damage and is not considered suspicious.
Hays said a few walls need to be replaced and the entire restaurant needs to be cleaned to remove smoke residue. The business will be closed until Friday.
A City of Victoria electrical inspector was on site Tuesday to look at the wiring system.
Tuesday’s fire is the latest in a string of blazes at Fort Street businesses in the past year.
On June 2, about 6:30 a.m., flames broke out in the kitchen of the Blue Fox restaurant at 919 Fort St. It was considered accidental.
Sen Zushi remains closed after being extensively damaged by a fire that broke out about 5 a.m. on April 16. Fire investigators said that the cause appeared to be a rice cooker left on overnight.
On Nov. 18, 2013, an early-morning fire damaged three businesses in the 700 block of Fort Street — Oscar and Libby’s, Pho Vy Vietnamese restaurant and Real Taste of India restaurant. Oscar and Libby’s and Pho Vy have relocated to nearby storefronts and the Indian restaurant remains closed.
Hays said the fires are a bizarre coincidence. “I’m thinking ‘What’s going on here?’ A conspiracy theorist might want to have a look at what’s going on here.”
