MANCHESTER, NH — A late-night fire at the mall food court caused about $5,000 in damage Tuesday.
Firefighters responded to the Mall of New Hampshire at about 10:30 p.m. after receiving a call from mall security reporting that the food court was filling with smoke. Crews did a search and discovered the source of the smoke was a bin of dirty grill-cleaning rags on fire in the rear of Charleys Philly Steaks.
An employee of Buffalo Wild Wings attempted to extinguish the fire before fire crews arrived and removed the smoldering bin to the outside where the fire was fully extinguished. Fire crews remained on the scene for the next hour evacuating smoke from the food court.
The mall was closed at the time of the fire with the exception of some employees and approximately 15 patrons of Buffalo Wild Wings, which was still open. All occupants self-evacuated. A representative from the Manchester Health Department was summoned to the scene to assess the situation at Charleys Philly Steaks and other adjacent restaurants.
The preliminary cause of the fire is deemed accidental due to the spontaneous combustion of greasy cleaning rags that were stored in the back room.
