Circuit panel source of fire

SPRINGFIELD — Nancy MacArthur had a dazed look in her eyes Friday morning as she glanced around at the remains of her Country Waffles franchise.

“The fire marshal said it would probably be six months before we’re back open,” MacArthur said. “I don’t know. I’ve never had to deal with anything like this. I’m just glad nobody was here and got hurt.”

The fire that gutted the restaurant at 1820 Olympic St. was sparked just after 10 p.m. Thursday in the restaurant’s circuit breaker panel in the kitchen area and caused an estimated $350,000 in damage, Deputy Springfield Fire Marshal Brian Parmelee said.

For now, that puts MacArthur’s 11 employees out of work. “I’ll have to find out what I can do for them,” said MacArthur, who lives in Salem but commutes daily to the restaurant. “If I can do anything, I will. And hopefully they’ll be coming back.”

The restaurant shares a box building with another restaurant, Papa Murphy’s Pizza, and was insured by The Hartford Financial Services Group, MacArthur said. The building is owned by McKay Commercial Properties of Eugene, she said. Papa Murphy’s sustained no damage other than a panel of its glass doors shattered by firefighters to gain access.

The last person in Country Waffles was manager Rainey Whitlock, MacArthur’s daughter, who left about 5:30 p.m. Thursday after cutting potatoes for a future shift, MacArthur said. The restaurant closes daily at 2 p.m.

All of Springfield’s five fire stations responded to the blaze, Springfield Fire Chief Dennis Murphy said, as well as a fire truck with an aerial platform from Eugene’s Fire Station No. 1 at 1320 Willamette St.

A fire wall between the two restaurants held and Papa Murphy’s did not even sustain any smoke damage, Parmelee said. The pizza restaurant was open for business on Friday.

However, Parmelee said Country Waffles could be a total loss. “I would say so,” he said. “They’re really going to have to rebuild the whole thing. And I’m guessing they’ll have to take the roof off, too.”

Fire damage from flames shooting toward the ceiling can cause significant damage to a roof, Parmelee said.

Parmelee, who worked at the scene all night, said there “was a lot of arcing” in the circuit breaker panel, referring to an electrical discharge caused by erratic current that can produce sparks. The circuit breaker panel was melted as if someone took a torch to it, he said. “You don’t see them like that very often,” Parmelee said. He’s seen maybe a half-dozen like that in his 10 years with the department and “this is probably the worst one I’ve seen,” he said.

As the stench of burned debris filled the air and employees with Servpro, a fire and water cleanup franchise, continued cleaning up, MacArthur said she was “just surprised that this even happened.”