Fire guts Anchorage restaurant

Fire officials say they are still investigating the cause of the fire.

The restaurant was not open today but the smell of flames alarmed one neighbor. "I was making food up in my room and I had my window cracked and I can smell fire," said Chris Maad, who lives across the street from the restaurant. "I just looked out the window and saw the place smoking pretty heavily from the top of the building and out from the vents there, I immediately called 911."

Firefighters had the blaze out within minutes. "When we pulled up, we forced entry in the front of the building and encountered pretty heavy smoke and fire," said Anchorage Fire Department, Senior Captain Mike Ascone, "Once we got inside, it took us about ten minutes to knock it down."

Firefighters removed a couple of carbon dioxide tanks. "One of the two tanks was off-gassing where we were actively fighting fire and we removed them through the window and took them outside and hosed them with a hose stream," said Ascone.

The owner and her family grieved, helpless, over the loss of a popular business. "There is probably 25 percent total loss and some smoke damage," said Ascone.

Fire officials say it appears the fire could have started inside the kitchen or the storage area. But again, the cause of the fire is still under investigation and fire officials said the two carbon dioxide

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