Fire badly damages Modesto restaurant and adjacent hookah lounge on Yosemite Boulevard

The Beirut Falafel Hut and adjacent Cedar Hookah Lounge on Yosemite Boulevard both suffered extensive damage in a fire early Tuesday, officials said.

At about 3 a.m., crews from the Modesto, Ceres and Stanislaus Consolidated fire departments responded to a report of a single-story commercial building with flames showing from the roof. The building in the 900 block houses the restaurant, the lounge and a third, vacant business space.

Crews arrived to see smoke coming from the roof. The businesses were closed, so firefighters made entry to attack the flames. "Due to the construction features of the building, there were some void spaces that made it difficult to overhaul the fire," acting Battalion Chief Andrew Hunter with Modesto Fire wrote in his incident report. "The fire went three alarms, with 19 total units responding."

No one was inside the businesses, and no firefighters were injured, Hunter said. There was no information available Tuesday morning on origin and cause of the fire, nor a cost estimate on the damage done.

Fire crews remained on scene until about 6 a.m., Hunter said.

This story was originally published May 15, 2018 at 11:09 AM with the headline "Fire badly damages Modesto restaurant and adjacent hookah lounge on Yosemite Boulevard."