The kitchen of the Sonic Drive-In on George Washington Memorial Highway in Gloucester sustained extensive damage on Sunday morning from a fire that started in a deep fat fryer.

According to Gloucester Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad Chief J.D. Clements, staff members were getting ready to fire up the ovens when the deep fat fryer caught fire. They tried to put out the fire with an extinguisher, but forgot to pull the lever for the fire suppression system, said Clements. All staff members evacuated safely.

A new roof had recently been installed over the original roof, said Clements, and fire went into the duct work and up into the original roof. Firefighters had to cut a hole through the new roof to extinguish the resulting fire.

The fire was knocked down within 30 minutes, said Clements, so there was not a lot of structural damage to the rest of the building, but the kitchen “was pretty much destroyed.”

The call came in at 9:09 a.m. and the first engine arrived at 9:14 a.m. Individual firefighters were already on the scene, said Clements. GVFRS had three engines, a rescue truck, a tanker, two medic units, and 21 personnel on the scene.

Abingdon Volunteer Fire and Rescue provided mutual aid with a ladder truck, an engine, and eight personnel. The scene was cleared at 10:33 a.m.

Fire at Adner

A doublewide mobile home at Laurelwood Estates in Adner sustained extensive damage on Friday, Feb. 13 when an air handler caught fire. Chief Clements said that the fire was in the floor of the home and rendered the structure uninhabitable. No one was injured.

The fire came in at 5:33 p.m. and the first unit arrived on the scene at 5:51 p.m., said Clements. Eleven firefighters responded from GVFRS, along with two engines, a tanker, and an ambulance.

Mutual aid was provided by Abingdon Volunteer Fire and Rescue with an engine and four firefighters, as well as Lower King and Queen Volunteer Fire Department with a tanker and four firefighters.