A fire Friday night heavily damaged Pedro’s Mexican Grill, formerly Phillip Bell’s Famous Flamingo, next to the historic Flamingo Inn motel in Elk City, Oklahoma.
According to The Elk City News, the fire at the restaurant at 2010 W. Third St. (aka Route 66) was reported at 11:52 p.m. Friday. There were no injuries, and no one was in the building at the time of the blaze. The fire started in the kitchen area.
Pedro’s put out this Facebook message on Sunday night:
Hello everyone this is Angela Williams, as many of you know I’m the manager at Pedro’s.
John & Monica have suffered a horrible tragedy, when the restaurant caught fire Friday night and many of you have been asking what you can do to help and where you could make a donation. I think there have been a few donation sites pop up from people who have good hearts and good intentions, but we do not have any prior knowledge of any of these sites.
So with that being said if you are one of those that would like to help out and make a donation, I will have more information on how and where to go to do that tomorrow. I will post here when I have finished the arrangements of getting the account set up through the bank. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.
We love our customers and all the outpouring love from our community!!
Pedro’s also posted this picture of a scorched chair in the restaurant Saturday:
As for the Flamingo Inn, a clerk who answered the phone at the motel Sunday night said no damage occurred from the fire, and everything there still was operational.
Background on the Flamingo Inn is scant, but one postcard collector says it dates to the 1950s.
(Image of the Pedro’s Mexican Grill fire courtesy of Kory Willis)
I’ve commented before about fires at places that are in use, and the lack of prevention equipment and extinguishers. It is hard to believe that there were no automatic sprinklers fitted in such a high risk area as a kitchen grill where there would be constant high temperatures when in use. The loss of business is surely greater than a sprinkler system.