A fire at Bijou Restaurant in Stratford’s downtown core has led to the restaurant’s closure.
Owners Mark and Linda Simone said there is currently an assessment of damages taking place after a “significant fire” on the weekend.
The restaurant will remain closed for the “foreseeable future”, according to their social media post.
Stratford Fire Chief Neil Anderson told MyStratfordNow there are no reported injuries.
The upstairs portion of the building contains two lived-in short-term rental units, but occupants were not in the building at the time of the fire.
Anderson said firefighters arrived at 12:59 a.m. on Saturday morning after an alarm activation at 64-68 Wellington St.
Once there, flame and smoke had breached the windows on the rear side of the building.
More firefighters and an aerial truck were called in and a search for people inside was conducted.
Anderson said the fire was originally contained to the kitchen but there was considerable smoke damage to the first floor.
There were 13 firefighters and four vehicles on scene for 8 hours, including fire investigation time, which continued into Saturday.
An estimated cost of damages is not yet known.
There was smoke damage to the rental units.
Anderson said the building owner “quickly made accommodation arrangements for the occupants” of the rental units.
“At this point we are confident that the fire was electrical in nature,” the chief said.
