Fire broke out in the rear of KC’s Outpost, a saloon and eatery in Beatty, on Monday night.
The Beatty Volunteer Fire Department got the call around 9:40 p.m.
Karl Johnston said that when he discovered the fire he did what he could with a hose to keep it from spreading while waiting for the fire department to arrive. Once they got there, they were able to knock it down quickly, containing damage to the outside of the building.
Johnston said there was a little water damage inside, but the restaurant was able to reopen for business Tuesday.
The fire seems to have started with propane outdoor barbecues that were behind the building.
When firefighters arrived, they found flame jetting from the safety valves of two of the five propane tanks in the area.
Johnston said that one thing that kept the fire from being much worse is that a Coke machine was between the larger of the two barbecue units and the wall of the building.
Still puzzled as to how the fire could have started, Johnston said it seemed “suspicious,” but that he had nothing to base anything on.
He said that it would not take long to repair the damage as most of the damage was to non-structural timbers.