Lafayette Restaurant May Be Closed for Months Due to Fire

LAFAYETTE, CA -- An Italian restaurant in the city may be closed for months due to damage caused by a grease fire in the kitchen that spread to the attic and took several hours to fully extinguish Tuesday night.

The fire at Postino, located at 3565 Mt. Diablo Blvd., was reported around 6:50 p.m. and was fully contained as of 8:08 p.m., according to Contra Costa County Fire Protection District spokesman Steve Hill.

Postino co-owner Parry Tong said Wednesday evening that the fire happened above the hood over the kitchen's grill.

"It was a grease fire that ignited," Tong said.

The grill has a safety system in place to put out fires on the grill, but this started above that system and spread into the walls.

"By the time we tried to put it out it was already in the roof," Tong said.

The restaurant is located in an old and historic building that may be challenging to restore. Tong said that it's too soon to estimate the full monetary damage, but he said that it might be three or four months before the restaurant can reopen.

Firefighters were on the scene until well after midnight, according to Tong.

An overhead video of the blaze, courtesy of the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, can be watched at https://www.dropbox.com/816a1e...

Bay City News contributed to this report.