Camarillo Restaurant Gutted as Safety System Malfunctions

A kitchen fire in a Camarillo restaurant Wednesday evening forced more than 80 customers and employees to flee before flames gutted the structure, authorities said.

Rock-N-Robin’s American Grill was nearly a total loss after an automatic fire-suppression system apparently failed to douse a grease fire that started in the restaurant’s kitchen.

“I thought we were fine” after the fire-control system turned on automatically, said restaurant owner Robin Dame. Then, he said, “I noticed some flames come from the side of the flue.”

Dame said the flue had been inspected and cleaned less than two weeks before the fire. The fire-suppression system, required in all restaurants, smothers grease fires with dry chemicals.

The restaurant, located at 2123 Ventura Blvd., was purchased by Dame about 18 months ago. Previously, the building had housed the Ranch Boy restaurant for 22 years, he said.

Among the customers in the restaurant when the fire broke out were 16 soccer players from Surrey, England, ages 9 to 13, who had just completed a practice match with boys from the Camarillo chapter of the American Youth Soccer Organization.

The youngsters took the disaster in stride, said Robert Phillips, a parent of one of the Camarillo players who was at the restaurant.

“I don’t think they had any idea what was going on until they were out,” Phillips said.

Maria Hornbeck, who had worked as a waitress at Rock-N-Robin’s since it opened, said there was little evidence of danger until the word was passed to evacuate.

“It looked like a small little fire that would be out in 10 minutes,” Hornbeck said. “Nobody panicked.”

The restaurant occupied one end of a strip shopping mall, but fire walls prevented the spread of the fire to the other businesses, said Assistant Chief Dave Festerling of the Ventura County Fire Department.