PITTSBURGH — A smoky fire at a Market Square coffee shop cause some chaos during the lunch hour Monday.
The fire was reported about 12:30 p.m. at Nicholas Coffee Co., which was evacuated when smoke filled the building, officials said.
"When the coffee got out of the roaster, there may have been some hot embers that got sucked in the air duct down below and it caught fire,” said Jordan Nicholas, owner of Nicholas Coffee Co.
Chopper 11 flew over the scene, showing firefighters and investigators going in and out of the business. All entrances to Market Square were blocked off.
“It looked like it was a terrible thing,” said Frank Large, the deputy fire chief. “Lots of smoke coming from the building. Our guys were able to get in with a hose line and within five minutes had the fire extinguished."
Laura Packer is a stylist in the salon above the coffee shop.
"We started to smell it really bad and then shortly after, it started to come up through the floors and that's when a couple clients and five or six of us working had to leave," Packer said.
Some people thought the restaurant next door, NOLA, was on fire again. That restaurant caught fire in 2014 and was closed for months for repairs.
This fire wasn’t as bad, just causing some minor smoke damage. The damage to the building and its contents is estimated at $12,000.
Nicholas Coffee Co. hopes to reopen Tuesday morning.
Cox Media Group
