Minor grease fire at Read Center McDonald's causes dorm evacuation

A minor grease fire Thursday at the Read Center McDonald's caused more than $20,000 in damages and the evacuation of most of the dorm.\nNo one was injured in the fire.\nBy the time Bloomington Fire Department arrived a little after 11 a.m. Thursday, Bloomington Fire Department Battalion Chief Mark Webb said the fire was out. However, he said smoke was still seen coming from the fryer, and they observed hot spots in the fryer and the exhaust ductwork. A built-in system, which can detect overheating, activated and put out the fire when a certain temperature was reached, he said. \nThe exact cause of the incident was not announced, Fire Prevention Officer Todd Easton said, but he did say mechanical failure and improper maintenance are possible causes.\nDamage was limited to the fryer, said Roland Long, owner of all Bloomington McDonald's franchises, but he suspects it will cost at least $20,000 to replace it, in addition to the cost of replacing the ductwork which was also damaged in the fire.\n"Because of the fact that the fire was down below inside, it looks like the fire started inside the fryer on the back left side," he said.\nMelanie Scott, an assistant manager at the McDondald's, said she was working at the fryer when the fire started.\n"Smoke started billowing out, and we opened the doors and saw flames and got everybody out," she said. \nScott, who said she has worked at the Read Center McDonald's for 18 years and never seen such a grease fire, wasn't too concerned about the damage, saying no one was worried or scared from the situation.\nPools of grease caused officials from the Bloomington Fire Department and IU Police Department to slide around on the wet floor as they cleaned up the store Thursday afternoon.\nGrease fires are not uncommon in restaurants, Long said, adding that an electrical shortage could have caused the fire. He added he was recently notified that Frymaster, the company that produces the model of fryer the Read Center McDonald's used, has recently had problems with the internal wiring of the product.\nA Frymaster representative said Thursday he had never heard of any problems.\nLong said the restaurant had previously looked into any potential wiring problem but found nothing.\n"We thought we had checked them out ... without knowing exactly what to look for," he said as he trailed off.\nSophomore Christine Derek, a resident in Read Center, said her room has smelled like burnt plastic since the incident late Thursday morning.\n"When I got back in after they let everybody in from the fire, I came up, and it just stunk," she said. "It still does. And I've had my windows open." \nLong said he hopes the McDonald's could reopen as soon as Saturday.