Cafe Brasil in Santa Cruz Badly Damaged by Fire

SANTA CRUZ - A fire broke out in a popular Westside breakfast spot Tuesday night, but firefighters were able to save the restaurant.Fire crews were sent to Cafe Brasil around 8:15 p.m. for a report of smoke coming from a kitchen vent and hazy smoke inside the building, located at 1410 Mission St.

Apparently, the oven pilot light ignited accumulated grease, Battalion Chief Matt McCaslin of Santa Cruz fire reported. The fire caused about $31,000 damage.

“We are very, very lucky,” said Joao Luiz Frota, who owns Cafe Brasil with his wife, Claudia. “It wasn’t that bad. The only damage is on my stove.”

McCaslin said city building officials and fire prevention staff are working closely with the restaurant management staff to expedite the permitting for repairs.

The Frotas hope to reopen by Monday after repairing the kitchen and doing a little building maintenance. They will give the walls a fresh coat of paint, scrub the floors and “just clean the whole place up,” Joao Frota said.

He said the restaurant hasn’t closed since it was shuttered for almost a year after an electrical fire in 2004.

That fire, traced back to a cheese melter in the kitchen, gutted the building in January 2004. Like Tuesday’s fire, the blaze started at night when the restaurant was closed. After the 2004 fire, the Frotas spent about $300,000 restoring Cafe Brasil. It was closed for repairs for 10 months.

Tuesday night, a thermal imaging camera indicated temperatures in the kitchen neared 300 degrees Fahrenheit when fire crews arrived, according to McCaslin. Firefighters forced their way into the locked building and also accessed the restaurant through the roof, he said.

West Coast 911 story source -  Written by Santa Cruz Sentinel