The status of gigs at New South Wales live music venue and restaurant Lizotte’s are up in the air after a fire that broke out at the site caused around $250,000 in damage while performers and patrons were evacuated from the venue, as The Herald reports.
NSW Police report that they are investigating the cause of a fire that sparked at 9.15pm on Saturday night at the venue, located in Kincumber on New South Wales’ Central Coast, the first in the popular Lizotte’s chain founded by restauranteur and touring musician Brian Lizotte (brother of Mark ‘Diesel’ Lizotte).
The Central Coast venue regularly hosts live music in special dinner show bookings and performances, such as recently hosted performances from the likes of Mark Seymour and James Reyne.
Authorities say that a smaller fire broke out in the venue’s kitchen during a dinner show from Australian singer Abby Dobson (of Leonardo’s Bride and Baby et Lulu fame). Staff attempted to extinguish the flames and thought the worst was over, but a second, larger blaze erupted under the venue’s roof.
When the fire escaped containment in the kitchen, it spread through the roof, cutting power to the venue, causing the evacuation of more than 40 patrons, staff, as well as Abby Dobson and her band (as guitarist Simon Dobson tweeted) from the venue before the flames caused an estimated $250,000 worth of damage to the property.
As a post on Lizotte’s Facebook page describes:
Unfortunately last night during Abby Dobson’s performance a fire broke out and the restaurant was evacuated. The fire brigade arrived promptly and the blaze was contained to the kitchen.
We apologise to the diners who had their night out cut short and thank them for their composure during the turn of events. We’d like to send out a HUGE thank you to the fire brigade and policemen who attended the scene and to our wonderful staff who dealt with the situation swiftly and professionally. “
A spokeswoman for Lizotte’s, which also has establishments in Sydney and Newcastle, says that decisions about booked gigs in the coming days – including performances from guitarist Bruce Mathiskes, US singer-songwriter Kevin Welch, and ‘Funky Town’ hitmakers Pseudo Echo – will be assessed with staff contacting any effected patrons.
Police report that forensic investigators would examine the live music venue for the cause of the fire but have ruled out any suspicious activity, authorities believe that heat from the first fire in the kitchen sparked the second.
