Kitchen blaze at Walsall fast food shop

Ten firefighters were called out to the blaze at Peri Peri Original in Bradford Street, Walsall, at 2.30pm yesterday.

The blaze caused the street outside the store to be closed for around an hour.

Three employees were inside the takeaway when the fire broke out, but no-one was injured.

The fire, which took crews 40 minutes to put out, was caused due to an extraction flue in the kitchen melting a water pipe, said firefighters. "The problem is that the flue was too close to the water pipe, and the heat caused it to melt," said Watch Commander Mark Avery.

"We have spoken to the landlord and given him advice. The store has been 100 per cent damaged by smoke, while the fire damage was confined mainly to the cooking range. We also had to remove some roof tiles where the extractor comes through the roof." Businesses either side of the takeaway were unaffected by the fire, say firefighters, as the blaze was confined to Peri Peri Original alone.

The Barnado's charity shop next door was, however, affected by the smoke.

A volunteer at the store, Kajal Hallan, said a member of staff from Peri Peri ran into the shop when the fire first broke out in search of an extinguisher.

"There was lots of smoke outside – it made it really smoky in here," she said.

"Luckily, the fire didn't bother us – it scared away our customers though."

Staff at the takeaway declined to comment.