By Rick Dandes
HUMMELS WHARF — A grease fire from an electric fryer shut down Arby’s Restaurant in the Susquehanna Valley Mall late Monday afternoon.
The blaze broke out about 5:30 p.m., according to Jeff Buckley, chief of the Hummels Wharf Fire Company.
The eatery had four tables filled with customers inside and three employees at work when the fire erupted. The customers and staff members were evacuated, and no one was injured, said Arby’s manager, who asked to remain anonymous.
He said they used fire extinguishers to try to put out the fire themselves but were unsuccessful.
Buckley said: “By the time we got here, the fire was still going. They thought they had it out. We turned off the fryer and then used our own extinguishers and put out the fire. Then we installed fans and blew the smoke out the back, so that it wouldn’t drift into the mall.”
Arby’s will be closed until this morning, the store official said.
Mall traffic was back to normal by 6:30 p.m. The mall was not evacuated, and other businesses were not affected by the fire.
Assisting at the scene were fire and rescue personnel from EMT Ambulance, Hummels Wharf, Shamokin Dam and Selinsgrove.
Arby’s is across from Kay Jewelers, near the Bon-Ton Court and inside the entrance at Garfield’s Restaurant.
