Grill Fire Closes Flaming Grill & Buffet Temporarily, Official Says

A Brick Township restaurant will be closed for at least another day, possibly longer, as its owners and management clean up after a fire Monday morning, officials said.

But the outcome could have been far worse, if not for the fact that the Flaming Grill & Buffet had all the fire suppression equipment that’s required under township code, which helped bring the fire under control, said Chief Kevin Batzel of the Brick Township Bureau of Fire Safety.

“If not for that, the damage would have been far worse,” Batzel said Monday afternoon.

Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the Flaming Grill, in the Kennedy Mall shopping center, 2770 Hooper Ave., at 7:27 a.m. by a fire alarm in the restaurant. Upon arrival flames and heavy smoke could be seen through the front window, he said. The fire was in a grill in the kitchen to the rear of the dining area, he said.

As firefighters made entry into the building, a fire suppression system that’s required by code for cooking areas activated, Batzel said, and the fire was brought under control quickly within an hour.

Damage was limited primarily to smoke, he said. The Ocean County Board of Health responded and said the restaurant will be closed until cleanup from the fire is completed. Batzel said that could mean the American Asian fusion style restaurant will be closed for another day, or it could be a week.

It was the second fire in the restaurant in a month, Batzel said; the previous fire started when an employee was smoking in a restroom. That fire was contained by the building’s sprinkler system, he said.

“Which just further emphasizes how important these fire suppression systems are,” Batzel said. “Without them, we could have lost the entire building.”

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, Batzel said. All of Brick Township’s fire companies responded, as did the police department and the Brick EMS squad, he said.