PENDERGRASS - The State Insurance Commissioner has concluded his investigation into a predawn fire that gutted the Arby's restaurant in Pendergrass Wednesday morning.
"Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine has ruled that fire accidental," said Oxendine's spokesperson Glenn Allen. "That fire was started in the area of one of the fryers."
Allen said it was a grease fire that left the building on U.S. 129 and I-85 a total loss.
The fire was reported about 6 a.m. and by 7 a.m. it was under control.
Police closed northbound lanes of U.S. 129 for about an hour; fire and emergency vehicles blocked the road.
Firefighters from the Jefferson Fire Department and the North Jackson, Harrisburg and Jackson County Corrections Institute fire departments battled the blaze, according to Jefferson Assistant Fire Chief Mike Duke.
"Initially the police were called to a burglar alarm," Chief Duke said. "When they arrived there was heavy smoke and they notified the Fire Department about two minutes later. We had a heavy working fire inside the building, within 15 minutes we had it knocked down."
No one was in the building at the time and there were no injuries.
Saturday
July 5th, 2025
2:29AM
