Grease Catches Fire at Mall Food Court

An early-morning fire Monday in the food court of the Glendale Galleria caused an estimated $40,000 in damage but was not serious enough to delay the mall’s regularly scheduled 10 a.m. opening.

Before the fire broke out, a contractor was using a torch to cut an access hole in the ventilation ducts above Hawaiian Barbeque Express, a food court tenant, said Steve Howard, a spokesman for the Glendale Fire Department.

“The torch ignited built-up grease in the ducting,” he said.

The fire was reported shortly after 8 a.m.

No one was injured, and the five companies from the Glendale Fire Department that responded extinguished the flames within half an hour.

“It really was very minor,” said Annette Bethers, senior marketing director for the Galleria, one of the largest regional malls in Southern California.

“The fire was out, the water was cleaned up and we were open at 10 a.m., which is our regular hour.

“We were very lucky that this didn’t affect our business or our employees or shoppers here at all,” Bethers said, estimating that fewer than 50 people were in the mall at the time.

An employee with Hawaiian Barbeque said the eatery would be closed for several days because of remodeling unrelated to the fire.

In 1994, smoke from a small grease fire temporarily shut down the mall’s food court and caused an estimated $200,000 in damage, authorities said.

Bethers said she did not anticipate that the mall would make substantial changes in its operating procedure. “I think this was just an isolated situation.”