Fire damages kitchen at Ali Taj

Last updated 12:01, Tuesday, 24 June 2008

FIRE fighters tackled a blaze at the Ali Taj restaurant in Whitehaven last night believed to have been caused by a chip fryer.

The fire-damaged kitchen at Ali Taj

Ali Taj owner, Nowab Ali, said: “Luckily it was a nice day yesterday so everybody, was out, a couple of the lads were out playing badminton and I was waiting for my son to come home from school. It was a passer-by who is my friend who said 'I will wait for your son because your restaurant is on fire'.
“Everybody was very kind and I’m very grateful to the fire service and appreciate everybody’s kindness.
“We hope to be open by two weeks at the very latest.”
A fire spokesman from Whitehaven said: “We were at the Ali Taj for an hour and had support from a Workington crew.
“The fire was confined to the kitchen area and the fact that the extractor fan was on helped it to spread. It does look bad but most of the damage is smoke damage.”
No one ws hurt in the fire.