Yolks All Day Family Restaurant in Prince George is back up and running after closing abruptly due to the Econo Lodge fire.
The blaze is being classified as arson by police following the deaths of three people.
Owner/Manager, Bronwyn Steward told MyPGNow.com it took some quick thinking to get everyone out safely.
“One of our girls just yelled fire and I looked over, smoke was barreling out of the building so we evacuated everyone and we probably had about ten tables in here at the time.”
“Within ten minutes of looking over, the whole side of the Econo Lodge was just up in flames and smoke, it didn’t take long for our customers to get up and run out.”
Steward added the aftermath of the blaze was anything but pleasant.
“We weren’t allowed into the building for four days after that because of the investigation going on and once we were allowed back in here, it just ranked of smoke so we had to get two cleaning companies in here for two weeks.”
The plan was to open the doors on Monday but another setback cancelled those preparations.
“Our compressor in our walk-in cooler went down as the power bank shut off so that held us back for another two days but with a lot of work, we made it happen. We are here and open again.”
Steward mentioned adversity is nothing new for them as all of their inventory needed to be replaced after re-opening initially during Phase 2 of the province’s Recovery Plan.
The ownership group offered its thanks to the community during these trying times.