By BOB HIGH

An accidental fire caused extensive damage to the Seafood Express restaurant here Sunday morning.

“We know it was accidental and we can speculate that the cause was electrical. We never could lay our finger on the exact problem because it was all in the area where the cooking exhausts go through the roof,” Acting Fire Chief John Cook said today.

Cook estimated damages at $100,000 or more in the blaze that was called in at 8:57 a.m. yesterday.

When firemen arrived from less than three blocks away they found heavy smoke and extreme heat as they entered the front door, plus the service door on the north end of the building along U.S. 701 Bypass at Columbus Street.

“Our guys couldn’t see each other and they were standing less than three feet apart,” Cook noted.

Ladders were used inside and out to put firemen in position to fight the blaze that was largely confined to the attic. They cut a vent hole in the roof trying to find the fire.

“Everything in the kitchen was burned or damaged by heat and smoke. He (owner Charles Hammonds) lost all his cooking equipment, his refrigerators and all other equipment, plus all the food he had stored inside,” Cook pointed out.

Cook said 14 local firemen, with eight or 10 from the Brunswick volunteer department, fought the fire. The Brunswick firefighters were called because of the extreme heat caused by the fire in a combination with the muggy weather.

The fire was under control after approximately 35 minutes, and clean-up crews didn’t leave the premises until after 4 p.m.

Investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation and Cook pinpointed the origin of the blaze.