Small fire, lots of water close two Port businesses

A small grease fire at Smith Bros. Coffee House Monday morning left two downtown businesses closed early this week.

Duluth Trading Co. sustained some water damage but was expected to reopen Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 23, or early Thursday, Oct. 24, Assistant Manager Bill Connolly said.

“We’re good to go,” he said Tuesday afternoon. 

Smith Bros. Coffee House was closed as well, and Fire Chief Mark Mitchell said the shop isn’t expected to reopen until late this week.

No one could be reached at the coffeeshop Tuesday afternoon.

Mitchell said oil in the deep fryer caught fire Monday morning, prompting sprinklers in the eatery to go off.

The sprinklers put out the fire, he said, but continued to release water after that, flooding the shop with a combination of grease and water.

The fire was out by the time firefighters arrived. They shut off the water to the sprinkler system and mopped up the mess, which had spread into the neighboring Duluth Trading Co. store, Mitchell said.

“The restoration company came while we were still there,” he said, so cleanup began almost immediately.