Fire destroys McLure Restaurant

All that remains.

Keeping an eye on the scene Sunday morning.

Twitter photo via CFJC.

Volunteer firefighters hose down remains of adjacent house.

Sign at entrance melted on one side.

Twitter photo via CFJC.

Click on image for slides.

NEWS — McLure lost a social gathering place as the McLure Restaurant burned to the ground late Saturday.

The restaurant, on the Yellowhead Highway north of the McLure ferry, had been a place for residents and visitors alike to stop in for coffee and a meal for many years.

TNRD Area P Director Mel Rothenburger said McLure Volunteer Fire Department chief Noel Johnson told him at the scene this morning (Sunday, April 5) he and his crew had just returned to the fire hall after putting out a grass fire when the call came in about the restaurant shortly before 10 p.m. The crew headed straight up to the restaurant, arriving within minutes.

They were able to contain the fire to the restaurant and a small, unoccupied house next to it, keeping it from spreading to nearby residences. A cause is not yet known. No one was believed injured in the blaze.

Late this morning, the fire volunteers were still mopping up, hosing down the flattened house and keeping an eye on the remains of the restaurant. The restaurant’s sign at the entrance to the parking lot was melted and barely readable.

In 2003, the McLure wildfire started in the hills behind the restaurant and raged for weeks, but left the restaurant untouched.

— Area P Post