“That is still unfolding,” said Stephen Gary, the restaurant’s operating partner.
Gary said the restaurant office, the “fire pit” where all the steaks are cooked and the roof above those areas was destroyed leaving the business with damage to about 25% of the building.
“The rest of the restaurant is still in good shape,” he said. “The dining room wasn’t really touched.”
The rest of the damage was water, soot, and ash and there were no reported injuries.
The cause of the blaze appears to be smoldering wood used to smoke meat from a firebox beneath a grill, said Lakeland Fire Marshal Cheryl Edwards.
“Our fire investigators are going to call the fire unintentional,” Edwards said. “They believe it was accidental.”
Each night employees empty out the wood from the firebox, place it into a metal can and move it outside on a dolly, Edwards said. However, it appears some of the smoldering wood fell on the ground near the pine wood exterior where the fire started.
According to the Lakeland Fire Department, crews responded to a report of a fire at Texas Cattle Company early Tuesday at about 1 a.m. and could see heavy flames and smoke from the south side of the building at 735 E. Main St. on the east shore of Lake Mirror.
The fire at the single-story structure presented “several challenges, including propane tank storage and a compromised gas line due to high temperatures and fire,” LFD said. The fire was brought under control around 3:30 a.m.