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COLE BAY--A generator feeding Lee's Roadside Grill and Bar damaged its container and an adjacent toilet when it burst into flames last week, Wednesday morning.

Flames charred an adjacent cargo container when the machine caught fire about 11:00am. It was the second time a business' generator caught fire this week.

It was also the second straight day that fire erupted in or around a restaurant.

 A fire broke out in St. Maarten at Lee's Roadside Grill

Crew of Blue Moon, a yacht docked in Simpson Bay Lagoon, took a hose and a dinghy and hosed down the generator while awaiting firemen.

Senior Fire Officer Frans Nieuwenhoven said Lee's was at fault for placing the generator too close to flammable structures. "You need to have at least a 60-minute delay before the fire can spread," Nieuwenhoven said.

The generator house, a wood-roofed concrete structure, is close to a container with cases of beer, sodas, and insect repellent on one side, and by a pair of side-by-side wooden bathroom stalls on another side. Fire destroyed one stall, toilet and sink, and scorched the wooden walls of the next stall.

The fire nearly spread to the restaurant next door.

The restaurant had been running the generator because power was out, when it either short-circuited or overheated. Nieuwenhoven said the fire would have been contained if the generator house had had a concrete roof, reminding the business that any replacement generator would need cement enclosure on all sides.

A kitchen fire at The Stone restaurant Tuesday could have killed the two men inside. The chef had been cooking when a heated pot of oil hit a gas line, severing the connection and spraying the kitchen with cooking gas. Flames hit the gas and scorched the cement-tile kitchen.

The explosion of two gas cylinders in the kitchen blew a hole in a window facing the beach. Management said keeping the cylinders indoors was temporary while they awaited a replacement, but the Fire Department urged a better-safe-than-sorry attitude next time.

A generator powering Caravanserai Resort in Beacon Hill caught fire Monday. Flames nearly spread to 3,000 litres of diesel fuel in the tank that fed the generator.

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