Patrons flee laundry fire at restaurant

Firefighters from Bluff and Invercargill check for hot spots after extinguishing a fire at the Oyster Cove restaurant, Stirling Point, Bluff, yesterday.

More than 20 patrons of the restaurant had to be evacuated after a fire broke out in the laundry at the rear of the building about 3.30pm. No-one was injured.

Owner Ross Jackson, who was not at the restaurant at the time, said his wife, Lynda, evacuated patrons and waited until firefighters arrived with three appliances. A fire rescue unit also attended.

Firefighters donned breathing apparatus and removed roofing iron to check above the laundry.

Mr Jackson said he believed the fire might have started in a drier. He said he had not been inside the restaurant since the fire but expected there would be smoke damage in the main part of the building as well as more serious damage to the laundry.