Firefighters in Marshall County, Mississippi, are still on the scene of an early morning fire at a popular cafe.
JB’s restaurant on East Van Dorn Avenue in Holly Springs caught fire just before 7:00 a.m. Wednesday morning.
It took multiple fire departments nearly three hours to tame the flames.
No one was hurt, but two employees who were inside the restaurant barely escaped.
JB’s Restaurant has been in business on the square in Holly Springs for ten years.
A busy lunch spot and a popular place for locals.
Pamela Boga said she and another employee had only been at work a few minutes when they realized something was wrong.
“We were in the kitchen cooking,” Boga said. “I could hear something popping.”
Boga said she did not think much of it at first.
“We had to like run past the stairs, past the fire, to like get out the building,” Boga said.
Boga said she could not believe what she saw once she made it to safety.
“You could see the smoke at the top of the building so it had to be on fire while we were in there we just didn’t know it,” Boga said.
According to the Marshall County Fire Department, the fire started on the second floor of the building.
The restaurant manager tells us the second story had been converted to apartments, which were vacant for the past couple of years.
Pamela Boga sees that as a blessing. Relieved no one was hurt and grateful to be alive.
“I’m calm down now but I was kinda distraught when it first happened ‘cause I was really scared. I was really scared,” Boga said.
It appears the fire was caused by an electrical issue, but Marshall County fire investigators are still looking into it.
Firefighters will check for hot spots and monitor the situation the rest of the day and possibly throughout the night.
