An early morning, two-alarm fire in downtown Renton has destroyed a building containing three businesses and is detouring traffic through the downtown core.
No one was injured as fire swept through the building at Main Avenue South and Bronson Way this morning. According to firefighters, the blaze began at 4:45 a.m. and burned through the building which contains the Afghan Cuisine restaurant, Thai Gold Triangle Restaurant and Program SER. Another business, Pacific Glass, to the north of the building was also exposed to some flames, smoke and water damage, but was ultimately saved by the fire crew.
Approximately 75 firefighters helped put out the blaze. Additional fire crews came from Tukwila, Kent, Maple Valley and Skyway.
Firefighters were still on scene more than six hours later and expect to be there for several more as investigators attempt to determine the cause of the blaze.
According to Deputy Fire Chief Erik Wallgren, the fire was difficult to put out.
“The fire was difficult to extinguish because of the construction of the roof,” said Wallgren. “It’s an older building and there’s many layers of roofing in this building. So we’ve been able to extinguish the fire to this point. We’re still working on some hot spots and starting our investigation.”
Aliahmad and Toby Ibrahimi, the father and son owners of Afghan Cuisine, were at the scene since early this morning, after they were alerted about the blaze. Son Toby said he was so shocked when he arrived and saw what was happening.”I don’t know; like three years of my life just flashed right there, you know,” he said. “I worked so hard with my dad. I just finished college; I was looking to take over.”
It’s doubling upsetting for the family because business has been “super busy” as of late, according to Toby Ibrahimi.
“So we’ve been doing really well after all this time; I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.
Despite their loss, he was fairly confident they would rebuild and keep the restaurant in Renton. Toby Ibrahimi has no idea what could have happened to the building saying, “it could be a hate crime; it could be an accident; it could be whatever…”
“We love Renton,” he said. “We love the community, the people. They support us. We want to stay here and stay with these guys.”
Lai Saelee, owner of Thai Gold Triangle Restaurant felt bad for all of the business owners affected by the fire.
“Right now I couldn’t go inside, but it looks like everything’s gone,” she said.
Saelee learned of the fire, while getting ready for work at about 6:30 a.m., Thursday.
“Oh I feel terribly bad, plus the owner of the building and Afghan (Cuisine)…” said she said.
She doesn’t know if she will start her restaurant again and where. She was renting at that location.
Fire investigators were expected to stay on the scene for most of Thursday, conducting their investigation.
Original story:
An early morning, two-alarm fire in downtown Renton has destroyed a building containing three businesses and is detouring traffic through the downtown core.
No one was injured as fire swept through the the building at Main Avenue and Bronson Way this morning. According to firefighters, the blaze began around 4:45 a.m. and burned through the building which contains the Afghan Cuisine restaurant and a handful of other businesses.
Approximately 75 firefighters helped put out the blaze.
Firefighters were still on scene more than six hours later and expect to be there for several more as investigators attempt to determine the cause of the blaze.
According to Deputy Chief Erik Wallgren, the fire was “stubborn” because it is an older building and most of the roof collapsed, making it difficult to get inside.
-Additional reporting by Brian Beckley, Renton Reporter
