PROVIDENCE -- A stubborn fire was still burning early this evening inside a Weybosset Street building that housed a popular dining spot, whose kitchen was apparently the source of the blaze.
Journal photo / Bill Murphy
A brisket being cooked at the Downcity Food and Cocktails restaurant apparently caused a smoky fire that spread through this mid-1800s building this morning. Firefighters were still battling the stubborn blaze more than eight hours after it broke out.
A burned brisket apparently started the three-alarm fire inside Downcity Food and Cocktails at 151 Weybosset St. at about 6:30 a.m., sending clouds of smoke billowing across downtown, clogging city streets during rush hour and eventually gutting the structure.
Abby Cabral, owner of the restaurants – formerly known as the Downcity Diner – said a chef was cooking a brisket to prepare for a catering job when the meat apparently caught fire. Flames moved behind the stove and into the walls, where it spread throughout the three-story, mid-1800s building.
The fire had not spread to other buildings. But hazy smoke kept coming from the three-story brick structure, with firefighters limited to pouring water on it from the outside because of fears the structure would collapse.
No one else was in the building at when the fire started, according to Cabral. The chef got out safely. The building's second floor was vacant, while the third floor housed a dance studio.
Firefighters have been on the scene since about 7 a.m.
Although he said there was fire in the kitchen when crews arrived, Providence Fire Chief David Costa said the official cause will not be determined until after the fire's out. The building will be a total loss, Costa said shortly before noon.
A few firefighters have been taken to the hospital -- one with a strained back and three for observation for "various ailments," Costa said.
Several blocks of Weybosset Street remain closed. A ladder truck continues to pour water in through the second floor. Spectators continued to gather at the scene.
The restaurant is a popular spot for the downtown lunch crowd, as well as theater-goers. It changed hands last year.
A partial second-floor collapse slowed firefighting efforts earlier today, Costa said. The restaurant's owners have confirmed that heavy steel equipment from a previous business in the building is on the third floor, he said.
Since firefighters suffered from cyanide poisoning at a downtown restaurant fire earlier this year, Costa said the department has been much more aggressive rotating crews in and out of burning buildings.
At one point this morning, all the firefighters outside the building on the Eddy Street side, where the smoke was quite thick, had their air packs on as a precautionary measure against dangerous burning gases, Costa said.
Many people stopped to watch the fire, including some children and members of the crew from Underdog, the Disney movie shooting nearby. The Underdog crew is set up in an empty lot on Union Street, between Weybosset and Westminster, about a block away from the fire.
Underdog publicist Scott Levine had just arrived on scene around 8 a.m. and said filming was expected to be done on Westminster Street today. He didn't know yet what impact the fire could have.
Another owner of the restaurant, Rico Conforti, said the business was insured that that he and Cabral would look for a place to relocate.
-- With reports from Journal staff writer Tom Mooney and projo.com staff writer Kate Bramson
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