A 3-alarm fire engulfed popular dim sum destination China Max Seafood restaurant tonight in San Diego's Kearny Mesa, causing an estimated $4.5 million in damage and sending two firefighters to the hospital with minor injuries.
Around 9:30pm this evening, flames tore through San Diego's China Max Seafood, destroying the 2-story restaurant and causing serious damage to surrounding businesses in the Plaza del Sol strip mall. At one point, it is reported that all the windows of the restaurant were blown out by backdraft explosions.
A total of 123 firefighters were on the scene working to extinguish the flames, which were finally put out a little past 1am. Two firefighters were taken to Sharp Memorial Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, but they have both since been released. The fire caused an estimated $4.5 million in damage, authorities reported. As of 8am this morning, fire crews remained on the scene to continue to monitor. Arson investigators are looking into the cause of the fire and determined it was completely accidental and was caused by an electrical issue on the overhang in front of the building.
“To get straight to the point, we received the official conclusion that the fire was completely accidental and was caused by an electrical issue on the overhang in front of the building," explained San Diego Police Department Lieutenant Al Ambito. "When our MAST [arson] investigators conducted their follow-up investigation, they did not find any signs of external or exterior source that would point to arson. Part of their investigation was to obtain video surveillance videos from around the area. They located cameras that had direct view of the area where the fire began. The video was able to show our investigators that after the restaurant was closed for the night, at around 9:30 pm the overhang started smoking for a few minutes before eventually catching fire. The overhang was hollowed wood that surrounded the building so once it caught fire, it travelled quickly throughout the entire property and eventually consuming the entire building.”
“To get straight to the point, we received the official conclusion that the fire was completely accidental and was caused by an electrical issue on the overhang in front of the building," explained San Diego Police Department Lieutenant Al Ambito. "When our MAST [arson] investigators conducted their follow-up investigation, they did not find any signs of external or exterior source that would point to arson. Part of their investigation was to obtain video surveillance videos from around the area. They located cameras that had direct view of the area where the fire began. The video was able to show our investigators that after the restaurant was closed for the night, at around 9:30 pm the overhang started smoking for a few minutes before eventually catching fire. The overhang was hollowed wood that surrounded the building so once it caught fire, it travelled quickly throughout the entire property and eventually consuming the entire building.”
China Max has been serving authentic Cantonese-style Chinese fare and dim sum to San Diego since 2003. The restaurant is owned by Tea and Wine Inc., which is managed by Cindy Wo, Judy Britt, Kong Cheung and Larry Thoi. Like all bars and eateries around San Diego County, China Max Seafood Restaurant was closed to dine-in customers because of COVID-19 pandemic precautions, although it was open for takeout at the time of the fire.
This is a developing story: We will update this post as we learn more.
