From Walton Sun
Red and orange flames stretched into the black night sky above The Lake Place restaurant as it was all but destroyed by a fire early Wednesday morning.
When emergency crews arrived at one of South Walton's most recognizable restaurants the fire had eaten through most of the building and the inferno was shooting approximately 30 feet in the air, according to neighbor Ed Goodwin.
The fire was reported at 2:35 a.m. Fire crews arrived at 5960 County Road 30A three minutes later and found the structure was fully ablaze, said District Chief Marc Anderson of the South Walton Fire District.
Fire Marshal Sammy Sanchez said the cause of the fire was electrical.
"We had the fire knocked down in 15 minutes and extinguished in an hour and a half," SWFD Deputy Chief Sean Hughes said.
When a fire is knocked down it means the main visible flames are out, Hughes said.
"Fires like that in the middle of the night usually get ahead start on us so by the time we get there it's pretty involved," Anderson said.
Owner Jim Richard said he has to look at his insurance coverage before he decides whether to rebuild.
By the time Goodwin grabbed his camera and ran over to the restaurant in the middle of night it was engulfed in flames.
"We lost another landmark," Goodwin said. "We lost two in the storms and now this one."
SWFD had two engines, two trucks, one squad and a rescue team at the fire. A total of 18 SWFD personal took part.
The roof was compromised during the blaze but did not collapse. SWFD took a defensive approach and fought the fire from the outside only because no one was inside.
"We didn't want to risk personal going inside with the roof weakened," Hughes said.
"The guys did an excellent job to put out that big of a fire in a short time."