Sunday kitchen fire closes Corbin Applebee’s, reopening date unknown

Patrons at one of Corbin’s most popular restaurants will be looking for a new place to eat for the time being after a Sunday morning fire significantly damaged the kitchen of Applebee’s restaurant, which is located off Exit 25.

Photo courtesy of Corbin Fire Department

Corbin Fire Capt. Eric Philpot said that at 9:30 a.m., about five Applebee’s employees were at work getting ready for the restaurant’s opening when the fire was fire reported.

“They were just getting everything turned on for the day, getting their food prepped for the day. One of the employees reported to her manager that she thought she saw a fire in the kitchen area so they called 911 and evacuated the building,” Philpot said.

“When Battalion Chief Chad Jackson arrived at the scene, there was smoke and flames coming from the roof of the building. We had an entry crew make entry into the back of the building into the kitchen area and they found the fire in the kitchen around the cook area.”

It took firefighters less than five minutes to get the blaze under control and they remained on scene for about two hours afterwards.

“We had some overhaul to do just to make sure there was no fire that spread into the roof area or the walls,” Philpot said.

Philpot said that the kitchen area was badly damaged by the fire, which also damaged the roof area where the hood system was above the cooking area.

The storage areas and dining area didn’t sustain any fire damage. The storage area closest to the kitchen sustained a medium amount of smoke damage and the dining room suffered minor smoke damage.

Thanks to employees being at the restaurant the fire got reported to authorities quicker than it would have otherwise.

Philpot said that the fire alarm had just started going off informing the manager as firefighters arrived at the scene. When firefighters got there, the blaze was already coming through the roof over the kitchen.

“Thankfully the employees being there allowed us to get there really quickly,” Philpot added.

No one was injured during the blaze.

Philpot said that a manager told him that a similar fire at an Applebee’s restaurant in Tennessee has caused that store to be shut down for three months.

So far, the cause of the blaze is under investigation, and hasn’t been determined.

Philpot said that it would likely be a group effort between the Corbin Fire Department, the electric company, the gas company, and the Applebee’s insurance carrier to determine the cause of the fire.

A total of 10 Corbin firefighters responded to the blaze along with two fire trucks and two other fire department vehicles.

The franchise is owned by Quality Restaurant Concepts, according to the fire department. Quality Restaurant Concepts LLC was started in 1988 under a different name as an Applebee’s franchisee, and now has 60 Applebee’s locations, according to its website.