ARBORFIELD – Arborfield Fire Department was dispatched at 2:09 a.m. on Aug. 24 to a fire at Pearl Café, one of the older buildings in the town.
Arborfield Fire Chief Chet Edwards said no injuries occurred due to the fire, but the building was completely destroyed.
Edwards said it was a difficult fire to fight, with many rooms and a peaked roof built over a flat roof. The restaurant walls are still standing but the roof has been destroyed.
The owners are Kichee and Siu Lan Wang and they have owned it since 2004. It is not yet known if there is anything to salvage or if they plan to rebuild.
Proven Insurance, located next door to the Pearl Café, was unharmed.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but when the fire department arrived, said Edwards, it appeared to have started in the northeast corner of the building.
The Arborfield Fire Department responds to three to four fire calls per year. The last fire within the town was in 2020, said Lisa Hamelin, administrator for the Town of Arborfield. There are usually about four more dispatches in any given year, but those are usually false alarms, she said.
Firefighters were on the scene until 10:30 a.m.
