At about 11:30A.M.Tuesday morning, while the salvage company was moving debris for the state

investigators a small fire flared up. Deerfield Fire responded with Engine 102 and Ladder 102

to put more water on the ruins. Deerfield Fire will begin manning an engine with off duty

personnel , at the property owners expense until further notice. Mayor Peggy Noland said “it’s

too dangerous to leave it this way”.  She said “the insurance carrier want to bring in their own

investigators and they can’t get here till Thursday”. When asked about a local TV station citing

a determination of arson had been made, Fire Marshall Gary Fernaays  said no ruling had been

made as of yet.  “Some of the media think that suspicious means arson”, it

doesn’t”.

CITY OFFICIALS DISCUSS SAFETY AT THE SITE

Crabby Jacks, at 1015 S.  Federal, in Deerfield Beach,  is the second restaurant this month in Rivertowne Square shopping center at SW 10th and Federal to have a fire.

People cruising by Sunday morning watched as it was burning down between 6:40 and 7:00 a.m. before someone finally called the fire in. Deerfield started rolling on the call at 7 a.m. and quickly called for back up from Pompano and Ft. Lauderdale.

There was a rumor going around town that maybe there was a “firebug” in the area because of a fire at Peking Tokyo Buffet on Aug. 12, which is still closed, less than a 1000 feet from Crabby Jack’s. That fire was a result of grease build up on and around the grill so when the employee fired it up there was a flash fire.

Quitoni from Deerfield fire said it took about 30 minutes to whack down the initial blaze.  BSO cleared out Denny’s next door because it was so hot.  Onlookers were coming by all day. The state Fire Marshall is investigating the fire and we should have an answer soon.

We will have the complete story in our Sept 1 issue of the Observer. To watch video of the Peking Tokyo Buffet fire on Aug 12 and the Crabby Jack’s fire go to ObserverTV and click on” latest videos”

PHOTO BY JEFF GRAVES