Angler recovers from fire
Image: Google Street View
The Blind Angler is up and running again after a fire destroyed part of the restaurant last week.
With pumps still chugging in its basement, fighting the last remnants of the season’s flooding, The Blind Angler Grill in Peachland suffered another blow last week when it went up in flames.
Co-owner Nancy McDonald says a fire sparked by the restaurant’s freezer last week took out the Angler’s air conditioning, freezer compressor, some outdoor storage units and about $10,000 worth of food, forcing it to close for three days.
She recalled being woken at 4 a.m. July 13 by her alarm company, which called to warn her the restaurant was being robbed.
“So I got in my car and a raced down the hill with my camera in tow so I could photograph the burglars, and low and behold I come around on two wheels and screeched to a halt, because there was fire trucks everywhere,” she recalled.
According to McDonald, several people passing by had called in the fire, and the Peachland fire department responded with precision quickness, dousing the flames by the time she arrived, and saving her restaurant.
Her insurance company also got to work right away, allowing the Angler to re-open July 16, with a portable cooler plunked in the parking lot.
However, that day McDonald was forced to shut the operations down again when much of Peachland lost power for a good chunk of the day.
“Fires, floods—now we’re just waiting for the locusts to come,” McDonald said with a chuckle.
Barring any biblical plagues, the Blind Angler is now up and running. It’s even hosting a Oysters and Bubbly night July 19. McDonald says that wouldn’t be possible if not for the bystanders and emergency responders who acted so quickly when the fire started.
“Without them we wouldn’t have a building, and you wouldn’t have a garlic burger,” she said.
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