A fire caused heavy damage to a restaurant, and the apartments above it, in downtown Appleton.
Flames were shooting out of the windows of the second-floor apartments in the Author’s Kitchen and Bar building in the 200 block of N. Appleton Street.
Battalion Chief Joe Strauss says crews found heavy smoke and fire in the kitchen area of the restaurant, and they figured out natural gas was involved with the fire. He says that forced them to fight it from outside.
Eight people were evacuated from the upstairs apartments. The Red Cross is helping them.
Strauss says part of the roof collapsed into the second floor, and the building is expected to be a total loss.
Strauss says there’s a firewall between the building, and the one next to it, and they were focusing on making sure the fire didn’t spread. Apollon is in that next-door building, and it has smoke and water damage.
