BY EMILY MIBACH
Daily Post Staff Writer
Firefighters were called to McDonald’s at 709 Woodside Road in Redwood City around 5 a.m. Sunday after getting calls reporting a fire, said Redwood City Fire Training Chief Chuck Lax.
One call was from an employee who showed up to work, smelled smoke and felt that the door was hot. Another call was from a passerby who said they saw flames, Lax said.
The fire was likely burning for “several hours” before people noticed the fire, Lax said.
The fire had already burned to the roof when firefighters got there, Lax said, so the flames were fought from inside the building.
Because a lot of equipment is often on the roofs of fast food places, the roofs can collapse, and firefighters have died in fires at fast food eateries where the roof has caved in, Lax said.
There was a partial roof collapse with this fire, and due to concerns about the McDonald’s structural integrity, the fire department is not letting fire investigators into the building, Lax said. However, the fire does not seem suspicious.
Firefighters had the flames under control within an hour and within two hours had a single crew on scene to watch the building for any smoldering.
Crews stayed on the scene for 13 hours until all the hot spots and smoke were gone, Lax said.
No one was inside the building when the fire broke out.
The fire caused Woodside Road to be closed during the initial firefight, Lax said.
The place was originally an A&W during the 1960’s, where I often went for lunch while attending Woodside HS. I guess grease can only accumulate so long before it spontaneously combusts.