A smoky small fire was discovered inside the Wendy’s restaurant in Centralia early Saturday morning by a deliveryman.
Centralia Fire officials say after opening the door, the deliveryman was greeted with smoke which prevented him from turning off the burglar alarm. That brought Centralia Police to the scene who called the fire department to locate the source of the smoke.
The fire was found in a box of toys being given away with children’s meals that caught fire after being placed on a chili warmer that was not turned off when the restaurant closed for the day. Firemen say video from the restaurant showed the box had been placed on the warmer around 11:30 Friday night and began to smolder around 1:30 about a half hour before the deliveryman arrived. By that time there were some small flames.
Firemen say if the deliveryman had not arrived, there was the potential for the fire to have been bigger.
While the fire was confined to the box of toys, there was some smoke damage to clean up.
