Crystal Beer Parlor owner explains when it will reopen after walk-in cooler fire

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - A fire at Crystal Beer Parlor forced the popular Savannah restaurant to close temporarily after flames ripped through the walk-in cooler early Friday morning.

Owner John Nichols received a text message at 3:15 a.m. from a neighbor with a video showing fire engines at the restaurant.

“Received a text from one of our neighbors back here with a video. It says, is everything okay? I saw the video. This was on fire. The fire engines were here,” Nichols said.

A bin of towels and aprons caught fire, ruining everything in the walk-in cooler. The flames did not spread to the rest of the historic restaurant.

“Not even smoke damage. So we were incredibly fortunate. Incredibly fortunate,” Nichols said.

He continued, “And we have temporary refrigerated units on the way today. So, hopefully, within the next couple of days, we’ll be back in business.”

The fire was the fifth incident the Savannah Fire Department responded to in eight days. The department said the number of incidents shows the importance of working smoke alarms.

“It is so crucial. We have to remind them, you know, time change, check your smoke alarms, check your batteries and everything else,” said Cheryl Mason with Savannah Fire.

Nichols said his phone has not stopped ringing with community support.

“So I couldn’t be more touched. It’s a beautiful thing,” he said.

A Gofundme was started by the Savannah Association of Local Tours in support of the Crystal Beer Parlor staff. They organization says this is to help the staff with lost holiday revenue due to the small fire.

Donations can be contributed at the link below: