SULTAN — A fire early Sunday morning destroyed a local restaurant and left the only grocery store in town without power.
A Washington State Patrol trooper saw flames coming from Dan’s Pizza and Pasta on W. Stevens Avenue about 2 a.m. and called for help, Sultan Fire Department spokesman Mike Ingalls said.
“Dan ran this restaurant for years. It’s a great loss,” he said of the owner.
Investigators estimated damage at $1 million, according to an incident report.
The building suffered heavy damage throughout, Ingalls said.
The fire most likely started in the kitchen, but officials still are investigating the cause.
More than a dozen firefighters worked to put out the fire, according to an incident report. They forced open the front door of the restaurant. Inside, crews braved the heavy smoke and moved toward the kitchen, which was engulfed in flames.
The fire mostly spared Sultan’s only grocery store, a Red Apple franchise in the same building, but left it without power, owner Joy Shands said.
For the first time in more than three decades, the store closed its doors for longer than the duration of a typical power outage or holiday, Shands said Monday afternoon. She was waiting for an insurance inspector to assess the damage.
Shands hopes to be open again in two weeks. “I’ve had so many poor customers wondering what they are going to do,” she said.
The nearest full-service grocery stores are several miles away in Gold Bar, she said, or in Monroe.
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com.
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