HEROES of a city restaurant fire have spoken for the first time of the wall of flame that erupted before their eyes.
Staff at Exeter McDonald's have been praised by fire officers and their bosses for their quick action that meant no one was hurt when the blaze recently broke out at the premises.
The High Street restaurant was officially reopened this week by the Lord Mayor of Exeter Councillor Percy Prowse.
Staff who were on duty the day of the fire told how the blaze erupted in seconds.
Part of the High Street had to be evacuated while firefighters battled to prevent the fire spreading.
Josh Spiller, 18, of Heavitree, a former St Peter's and Exeter College student, was working behind the till.
He said: "It all happened without any warning. Flames just blew up across the 10 vats of fat. There were a lot of flames.
"My first reaction was to get everyone out. We had about 10 customers – it was quite early on a Sunday morning. I shouted for all the staff to leave the counter and we ushered the customers out as we went.
"There was no panic and everyone was very good. We got them out the front and across the road. The fire service arrived within minutes.
"I have to say it was a whole new experience."
Brian Harbottle, 54, of South Street, Exeter, was cooking muffins when the fire broke out.
"I heard some noises and looked through the muffin toaster and I could see a curtain of fire about five feet across and about three feet high," he said.
"I nipped round to shut the gas off and I thought about going down to the basement to the main supply, but that is a dead end and I didn't want to risk coming back and finding the flames had got worse.
"The automatic sprinklers came on straightaway but they couldn't make a difference to the flames.
"We got everybody out and I checked upstairs for the staff there. I then when out the back was to make sure everyone was out.
"People's lives were at stake – the main thing was no one was hurt."
Restaurant manager Greg Abraham and shift manager Josh Finneran, were also praised for their part in the successful evacuation. David Shawyer, the McDonald's franchisee, said as well as the restaurant crew he wanted to thank the emergency services for their work.
The fire, caused by grease on a gasket, resulted in smoke damage across all three floors of the restaurant.
He said: "I'm proud of all of the crew members who were on duty at the time for working together as a team to evacuate everyone safely from the building.
"I'm also extremely grateful that the local fire brigade and police force responded and assisted so quickly.
"It's great to be able to open our doors to the public again."
The speed of the operation was due to the backing of McDonald's and involved the replacement of 60 per cent of the kitchen – including special parts diverted from America.
Staff were paid during the closure.
Mr Shawyer said that sales since the re-opening were above expectation and up on the same time last year.
The Lord Mayor said: "I was really impressed to hear how crew members worked closely with the emergency services to ensure the evacuation went without any glitches and I was delighted to meet David and his team at the restaurant reopening.
"As with all local businesses, the McDonald's High Street restaurant makes a vital contribution to the local economy in Exeter so it's great to see that they've been able to re-open so quickly."
The restaurant was opened in 1988 and currently employs 83 people.
