OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE WILL BE TEMPORARILY CLOSED FOLLOWING FIRE

A trash bin fire Thursday afternoon closed Outback Steakhouse for the weekend.

About 25 staff members at the restaurant watched firefighters extinguish the blaze from the back row of a parking lot as winds whipped their aprons and hair.

No one was injured.

The fire, which began about 3:50 p.m., damaged the roof and siding on the back portion of the restaurant, but there was no structural damage. Managing partner Rusty Beam said the restaurant would be closed for two or three days while crews finished repair work.

The restaurant opens at 4 p.m. daily, so about 15 to 20 employees were inside but no patrons, Beam said. "No one was hurt and everything worked correctly."

Employees heard the outside alarm system sound and could then see the flames from the fire reaching up to the roof, he said.

Apparently the fire started in the trash bin near the back of the building. "It was probably a cigarette butt that comes from emptying ash trays and such," said Battalion Chief Tom Hinkebein, who also serves as the city fire marshal.

No official cause of the blaze had been released, and an investigation continues.

Once the fire began the southerly winds pushed it into the soffit and then up into the roof of the building. A gas main near the trash bin also was leaking, but firefighters were able to disconnect it, Hinkebein said.

Within 15 minutes the blaze had been extinguished, and firefighters began trying to clear smoke from the building. They opened all the side and front doors so that the smoke could escape.

Most of the damage was contained to an area near the back of the building where dry goods are stored, Hinkebein said.

Sprinklers in the building went off as soon as the smoke began filling the building, he said.

Most of the smoke and flames that shot from the building were fueled by the wind, Hinkebein said.