Amador County – Multiple fire fighting agencies worked late into the morning Tuesday to mop up after an early morning fire that gutted the interior of the Jack In The Box restaurant in Martell.

Amador Fire Protection District led multiple agencies in fighting the fire, which included six engines and a truck from various agencies, including Sutter Creek, Jackson, Ione and AFPD. A wall beside the drive-through lane was broken, as were the front windows of the building, and the front and sides of the building were blackened from smoke, as personnel finished mop-up.

Fire officials remained at the scene late into the morning interviewing people, and fire crew members wrapped up hoses, as fire retardant foam flowed across the parking lot.

AFPD Battalion Chief David Bellerive said the fire was first reported at 5:40 a.m. and was fully extinguished in about two hours. He said the cause of the fire is still under investigation and “we will probably be out here pretty much the whole day” investigating.

Bellerive said there was one investigator on the scene at 11 a.m. and another investigator will come to work on finding the cause. Smoke reportedly led to a car crash involving four vehicles on Highway 49, as reported by one of two Sacramento television stations at the scene late in the morning. Bellerive said: “There was a crash and we did have heavy smoke conditions” when they arrived.

Personnel were dispatched to the fire at 5:40 a.m., Bellerive said. It took about an hour to get it under control, and about another hour to get it extinguished, then they did extensive mop up as well.

When he arrived, there was only smoke visible, and the fire was up in attic. He said it was hard to find and there was a lot of heavy black smoke. “Once we went in to make the interior attack, there was a lot more fire.”

He said the building’s structure remained intact, but the interior of the restaurant has extensive fire damage. There were no injuries. The store was not open at the time that the fire was reported. There were no employees at the scene during the fire, and there were no fire fighter injuries, he said.

Responders included six engines, one truck and about 25 personnel, including responders and equipment from Jackson Fire Department, Sutter Creek Fire District, Ione Fire Department and Cal-Fire.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.