Early morning fire in Wolfville, N.S., damages building with restaurant, apartments

An eatery in downtown Wolfville, N.S., is expected to be closed for some time after an early morning fire Monday substantially damaged the building.

Chad Schrader, deputy chief of the Wolfville Volunteer Fire Department, said firefighters were paged to a commercial structure fire at 406 Main St., shortly before 4 a.m.

The building is the home of The Naked Crêpe Bistro, and there are a pair of apartments above the restaurant.

“The caller had indicated there was visible flames on the exterior of the building,” Schrader said.

“We responded … and were able to extinguish the fire quite quickly with some help from our mutual aid partners to ensure it didn’t spread, because as you know Main Street’s pretty tight right there.”

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Schrader said it appears the fire started in the residential portion of the building and it’s unclear if it began inside or outside. There was one tenant at the time who evacuated prior to the fire departments arriving, Schrader said, and nobody was injured.

Fire departments from Greenwich, New Minas, Port Williams, Kentville, Waterville, and Hantsport also responded and departments from Canning and Windsor helped provide coverage to the area while the other departments were occupied by the fire. EHS, RCMP and Nova Scotia Power were also on scene, said Schrader.

He said the building was substantially damaged, with smoke and water damage on the interior.

In a written statement to Global News, Nicole Stern, who owns and operates the Naked Crêpe Bistro with her husband Tom, said the restaurant will likely be “closed for a while.”

“There was extensive damage to the dining room. My husband and I are in a state of shock,” she said, adding that she hopes they can reopen soon. “We really love what we do.”

Schrader said the cause of the fire has yet to be determined and the matter is under investigation by the provincial fire marshal’s office.