Flames gutted the Boston Pizza restaurant on West Central Street Sunday afternoon.
The fire broke out at approximately 2:30 p.m. As of 4:15 p.m. fire crews were still battling to control the blaze, which threatened to spread to the adjoining Blockbuster Video store.
The cause of the fire, and the extent of the damage, were not known as of press time.
However franchise owner Bob Toews said his staff and customers were able to get out safely.
"Everybody got out fine," Toews said. "We have speculation [about the cause], but that's all it is at this time."
A large crowd gathered to watch as fire crews used a ladder truck to blast water onto the roof to try and prevent the fire from spreading to the adjoining building. Inside the restaurant, burning debris could be seen raining from the ceiling.
Spectators clogged traffic on Central Street and police were directing traffic at nearby intersections to keep vehicles moving.
Toews said he has, "absolutely no question," that he'll rebuild the restaurant.
"We have business interruption insurance. Ironically we just finished renewing as of yesterday, if you can believe it," he said. "Our existing staff will be compensated for 90 days, or it could be 60, at their current weekly rate. We'll work them, as best we can, into our other store."
Marcia Waller was having lunch at the restaurant with a friend when the fire broke out.
"We were sitting right inside the front door," Waller said. "From inside the restaurant everything seemed normal. It smelled smoky, but I didn't think anything of it. I didn't hear any smoke detectors while we were inside."
About five minutes after she first noticed the smoky smell, the staff began evacuating the restaurant.
"Our server came and said we had to get out, there was a fire in the ceiling," she said. "Right when we got outside, we realized we were sitting right under where the smoke was coming out. Right where we were sitting, there was thick smoke billowing out of the ceiling."
No information about the fire was available from the Prince George Fire Rescue Service as of press time.Check out the video at http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/section/princegeorge0113
