“It’s a total loss. We just thank God no one was hurt,” said Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company public relations officer Denise Bowden.
The Great Wall II restaurant, located at 6341 Maddox Blvd., was fully involved when firefighters arrived on the scene minutes after a 911 call came in around 7:30 p.m., with flames were showing out of the roof and front windows of the one-story brick-facade wooden structure, Bowden said.
No one was at the restaurant at the time the fire broke out because it is closed on Mondays. No one was injured in the blaze.Chincoteague Assistant Chief Harry Stanley Thornton was the first to arrive on the scene within two to three minutes of the fire being reported and was the officer in charge.
A nail salon next door to the restaurant also was left with damage to its exterior as a result of the fire, but Bowden credited the quick action of firefighters with preventing the blaze’s spreading to other nearby businesses.
“All the men and women did a fantastic job,” she said.
Firefighters extinguished the flames in less than an hour but remained on the scene for two to three hours, Bowden said.
An investigator from the Virginia State Police also was at the scene of the fire, the cause of which is not known as yet.
Units and personnel from Chincoteague, Greenbackville, Atlantic, New Church, Wallops and Saxis responded to the fire.
Kruno Filipic of Chincoteague owned the building, which was rented to the restaurant business.
