Investigation into massive Cranston fire ongoing

CRANSTON, R.I. (WLNE) — Clean-up crews and investigators remain on scene of a massive morning fire at a Cranston restaurant.

The fire is completely extinguished at this point, but it’s still an active scene at the Applebee’s in Garden City Center.

The restaurant is now a total loss according to the Cranston Fire Department.

Calls for the fire came in around 5:30 Wednesday morning, with the chief saying there was heavy smoke coming from the roof area when they arrived.

It took around 45 firefighters to completely put the fire out after hours of work, and the department said the fire started in the kitchen and spread to the attic.

“It was too dangerous to put firefighters in that building due to the extent of the fire, the amount of fire over their head in the attic space,” said Gary Meinertz, Cranston battalion chief.

“They deemed it was going to be too much of a life/safety issue, it’s not a preferred way to attack a fire but in this instance the strategy worked well.”

The battalion chief said there were cleaners inside of the Applebee’s who called the fire in earlier Wednesday morning, and only a little bit of smoke spread into Bistro 22 right next door.

Firefighters were able to stop the spread right away.

Right now the investigation continues to figure out how this all started and no injuries have been reported.