Thomas Breen photo
Firefighters on the scene at State and Elm Street.
A two-alarm fire at Kumo Restaurant early Wednesday morning led to the self-evacuation of four tenants, minor injuries to two firefighters, and significant damages to the downtown Japanese restaurant.
Outgoing Fire Marshal Bobby Doyle told the Independent that firefighters responded to an activated fire alarm at the four-story, mixed-use building at 7 Elm St. at the corner of State Street and Elm Street at 5:44 a.m. Firefighters were able to get the fire under control by 6:40, he said.
Firefighters found heavy smoke conditions in the basement and on the first floor, which is entirely occupied by Kumo. The fire appears to have started somewhere in the restaurant, Doyle said, though the department still needs to investigate exactly what might have been the cause.
Fire Marshal Bobby Doyle (center).
“Kumo restaurant suffered from some pretty significant heat, fire, water, and smoke damage,” he said. “You’re looking at a long time before they’re gonna open.”
The second floor of the building is all office space, Doyle said, while the third floor apartment is home to two adults and a child and the fourth-floor apartment is home to three adults. The fourth-floor tenants had a fourth adult guest staying over at the time of the fire.
Four tenants were in the building at the time of the fire, he said, and all four self-evacuated safely from the building.
Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, he said: one due to dehydration, one due to a cut finger. No one had to be transported to the hospital.
No one was in the restaurant at the time of the fire, Doyle said.
According to the city assessor’s website, the building is owned by the holding company J V E Zheng’s LLC, which is owned by Fung Young Zheng of Hamden.
(Update) Firefighters returned to the scene of the burned out restaurant at around 5:20 p.m. Construction workers who have been boarding up the building’s windows called the department and said the walls inside 7 Elm St. were still warm. Just in case there is still a fire inside the building, Fire Chief John Alston (pictured at scene) said, firefighters returned to take temperatures, look inside walls, and put out any lingering flames, if necessary. As of 5:35, firefighters hadn’t found any lingering fire. The heat might be caused by insulation inside the walls, he said.
Probably not relevant, but I just read this NYT piece about spontaneous combustion in sushi restaurants:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/us/sushi-restaurant-fires.html?fbclid=IwAR2Vc27wtjj1od_ar7TB48-8xSNrSUu8858qgYbFXPARG7NRhq6MdnjPCt4