MARY ESTHER— A fire at El Paso restaurant on Mary Esther Boulevard did relatively little damage Friday evening after passing motorists reported the blaze.
Firefighters from Mary Esther, Fort Walton Beach, Ocean City-Wright and Okaloosa Island were called to restaurant about 6:20 p.m. and found smoke and 6 to 8-foot flames shooting from the roof façade, Mary Esther Fire Capt. Troy Smith said.
The building had been evacuated by that time.
The fire was contained in about 15 minutes. Damage to the restaurant’s interior was minimal because the blaze was contained to the roof and relatively little water from the fire hoses got into the building, Smith said.
There were no injuries.
Smith estimated damage at $5,000 to the roof façade and the building’s neon sign.
An electrical short caused the blaze, Smith said.
Kayla Hand, a server at El Paso, said no one in the restaurant noticed anything wrong until one person called and several others stopped to tell them about the fire, she said.
The evacuation went smoothly and El Paso was planning to reopen later that night.
“We’re going back to business,” Hand said.