Engine trouble leads to restaurant fire

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PENDLETON — It can’t be the most common cause of a restaurant fire.

On Thursday morning, a man stopped his pickup truck in the shade of an overhang at Downing’s Old Trail Restaurant to check his engine, and when he opened the hood, flames shot out and caught the building on fire.

“Around 11:30 a.m crews from PFD were dispatched to Downing’s Old Trail Restaurant in the 700 block of W State Street for a vehicle fire,” Pendleton/Fall Creek Township Fire Department posted to its Facebook page. “On arrival E87 found a fully involved truck fire that was extending into the business. Crews were quickly able to extinguish the vehicle fire before more damage was done to the building. The truck was a total loss, the business suffered minor exterior damage, but nothing inside the business was compromised or damaged.”

Fire chief Jeff Moore said the business, located on the north side of State Street just east of I-69, was not open at the time.

The business also posted a photo and account of the incident on Facebook early in the afternoon.

The incident “caught the side of our building on fire and busted out a window,” the post says. “The fire department was called and they had to bust the glass to our middle door to get inside to make sure the fire hadn’t spread to the inside of the building.

“Unfortunately the gentleman’s truck was to far gone to save and our building took a little damage, but we are so thankful no one was hurt during all this.

“We just wanted to let everyone know what was going on and that everyone was safe. We appreciate everyone’s concerns and wanted to thank everyone for their texts, calls, messages and prayers. We are doing our best to get everything cleaned up so we can open tonight for our carryout.”

Just after 5 p.m. Thursday, manager Brittany Sheets said she wrote the post and that the eatery did open for business on time today.

“We’re just having to use a different door,” Sheets said.

Business hours at this time are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays and 4 to 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, all for carryout only. The restaurant’s phone number is 765-778-4945.

The Pendleton/Fall Creek Township Fire Department gave a shout-out in its posting to the head of Adams Markleville Fire Protection Territory, who helped ensure a timely response to the incident.

“Special thanks to AMFT Chief Jim Chaplin who was in the area and called the fire in and stayed to assist with the incident,” the post said.

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