Kitchen Fire Closes Gainesville Restaurant

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A kitchen fire Thursday morning has led to the closure of the Ruby Tuesday in Gainesville.

There were no injuries in the blaze, and all patrons were safely evacuated, the county Fire & Rescue Department said. Damage to the Ruby Tuesday totaled about $35,000, according to a preliminary estimate, and a county building official determined that the building is unsafe.

Fire and rescue units were dispatched at about 11:30 a.m. Thursday to the restaurant, at 7505 Iron Bar Lane in the Virginia Gateway shopping center. The center is at the intersection of Route 29 and Linton Hall Road, about half a mile west of Interstate 66.

Upon arrival, firefighters saw flames coming from a kitchen wall, the fire department said in a statement. The heat generated by continuous cooking had ignited the plywood behind the gas stove. The firefighters then extinguished the fire.

The Prince William Fire Marshal’s Office determined that the fire was accidental. The fire’s origin was the kitchen stove, the fire marshal said, and the cause was the stove’s close proximity to the wall.