ABU DHABI // The kitchen of Restaurant East Yemen caught fire on Monday morning, causing workers to flee the building.
The restaurant, at 31st Street on Muroor Road, will be closed until repairs are completed.
The kitchen fire started at about 9am. Abu Dhabi Civil Defence crews arrived about 30 minutes later to extinguish it. There were no casualties.
A R, a cook, was in the kitchen when the blaze started. He said equipment caught fire as workers ignited coal in the barbecue corner.
“I was starting the fire when it happened. Then it caught the entire kitchen and we had to leave,” he said.
Kitchen hands and bystanders tried to put the fire out with water, but it quickly became uncontainable.
Abu Bakir Khan, 37, a Pakistani who works in a nearby laundry, said he smelt the smoke and went to investigate.
“There was a lot of smoke coming out and lots of people. When the fire department came they quickly put the fire out,” he said.
“It’s a small kitchen, so it wasn’t a very big problem, but still it was a problem for them.”
The restaurant owner said: “We thank God that nobody was hurt. That is more important.”
Fire safety regulations established in 2012 require specific requirements for kitchens, including the installation of a sprinkler system.
But the law states that if a kitchen is smaller than 150 square metres, it is exempt.
nalwasmi@thenational.ae