MONTPELIER – A late night fire Saturday caused “significant fire and water damage” to The Mad Taco restaurant on Main Street and to the rear of the adjacent Charlie-O’s building, Montpelier Fire Department’s Local 2287 posted on Facebook Sunday. Five tenants were displaced by the fire, but there were no reported injuries.
The fire was called in at 11:10 p.m. and fire crews were on scene “in under a minute,” according to the firefighters’ union post. The Mad Taco is located directly across the street from the fire department’s headquarters.
The fire hit just one week after The Mad Taco celebrated its reopening after the July floods swept through Montpelier. An Oct. 22 Facebook post on the restaurant’s site declared, “It’s good to be back. Rebuilding our Montpelier shop after the July flooding was intense, but we are finally back open with a newly remodeled, better shop than what was washed away.”
Photos from the fire showed heavy black smoke rising high above the front of the restaurant. The fire was declared under control in about two hours, although crews remained on watch throughout the night. Ten neighboring fire departments and first responders provided mutual aid, according to the post.
On Sunday morning, the interior of The Mad Taco appeared to be heavily damaged as Montpelier’s fire chief, Robert Gowans, and investigators from the state’s fire marshal’s office worked to determine what caused the blaze. The sidewalk was cordoned off and several firefighters were gathered in front of the building next to a fire truck.
The low-slung building that houses The Mad Taco shared an adjoining wall with Charlie-O’s, and the fire spread into the interior walls of the neighboring old wooden structure.
“Charlie-O’s World Famous,” a downtown watering hole and fixture for locals that bills itself as “A Dive for Nice People,” had also sustained heavy damage from the July flooding but was back open for business when the fire broke out.
The fire struck as many of Montpelier’s downtown businesses continue to work to reopen after the flood. Local residents wandered by the fire scene Sunday to survey the damage. One post on the firefighter union’s page summed up what many local residents were feeling: “Montpelier can’t seem to catch a break! Sad.”
Efforts to reach The Mad Taco’s owner Sunday morning were not successful. The Mad Taco also has eateries in Waitsfield, Essex and Middlebury. On Sunday, the Facebook page that celebrated its reopening just one week ago now noted the Montpelier restaurant was “temporarily closed.”
