Pacific County Fire District #1 Battalion Chief Doug Knutzen talked with witnesses after a kitchen fire at Rod's Lamplighter in Seaview early Monday morning. No injuries were reported.

SEAVIEW — No injuries were reported after a late-night kitchen fire sent patrons scrambling from a smoky bar in Seaview.

A grease fire was reported at Rod’s Lamplighter around 12:30 a.m. Monday morning generating a convergence of local fire departments to the corner of 38th and L Street in Seaview.

The fire was quickly contained with a majority of the damage limited to the kitchen and attic, according to authorities on the scene.

New kitchen equipment considered culprit

Bartender Gretchen Parsons was in the kitchen cooking hamburgers and chicken strips for customers when the fire started.

“Our hood vent caught fire and it caught our ceiling and after than I couldn’t tell you…. My hood foggers went off and I got covered in white stuff,” Parsons said.

Parsons, an employee of the bar the past six years, said recently installed cooking equipment is considered to be the culprit.

“We just put in some new deep fryers and I don’t think they got calibrated right. There were flames where the deep fryer connects to the hood vent. The hood vent went up and then it caught the ceiling and the attic above. I’ve never seen something like this,” she said.

As one bartender alerted and evacuated customers, Parsons attempted in vain to contain the fire with an extinguisher.

Customer Randy West was one of about 15 patrons inside when the fire started.

“All the sudden there was smoke and they came and told us all to get out,” West said. “They blew a fire extinguisher on it a few times but they realized it was out of hand.”

After all the customers were evacuated, Parsons called the fire department.

Pacific County Fire District #1, Ilwaco Volunteer Fire Department and Long Beach Volunteer Fire Department responded to the call, which ended at approximately 3 a.m.