What caused ‘smoldering’ fire at a downtown Macon restaurant? What we know
The inside of a brick downtown Macon restaurant looked like a monochrome television after a fire destroyed it at the end of September, according to fire department records provided to The Telegraph this week.
White plates turned gray and black soot coated everything to the crumbled ceiling at 578 Southern Style Cuisine on Second Street and Mulberry Street Lane.
Oily kitchen rags caused the fire before 1 a.m. on Sept. 29, an incident report from the fire department said.
The rags sat for too long in a plastic bag and “started smoldering” near the back door inside the restaurant, according to Capt. Kyle Murray, the lead fire investigator.
“Any type of natural substances, if they sit long enough, can over time degrade,” Murray told The Telegraph. “During the degradation process, they can create heat amongst themselves and spontaneously combust.”
Most of the restaurant’s back end was burned, and there was “significant smoke damage throughout” the rest of the business, an incident report said.
The smoldering rag was about 5 feet away from the back door, which was also covered in flames when firefighters arrived, an incident report said. The crew sprayed down the area, searched and ventilated the building, and cleared the scene by around 4 a.m.
An owner of 578 Southern Style Cuisine and Patrice Jordan, the building property manager, arrived and spoke with firefighters at the scene, an incident report said.
Jordan said the incident was under investigation but would not share other details. The Telegraph’s attempts to contact the restaurant owner were unsuccessful.
The only person in the building during the fire was a man in an apartment above the restaurant, an incident report said.
He exited the building safely before firefighters arrived, the report said.
The restaurant is on the first floor and three apartments are on the second floor, the fire department said.
No one was injured during the incident, according to the fire report.
Murray and Cunningham Investigative Associates, a private fire investigation company that works with the building’s insurance, examined the scene after the fire was cleared.
They believe the incident was an accident and no crime was committed, Murray said.
The restaurant was still closed by Wednesday, and it was unclear if or when it would reopen.
Yellow fire scene tape was wrapped around the front door handles. A paper from the investigative company was posted above and said, “SCENE IS UNDER INVESTIGATION. DO NOT DISTURB.”
This story was originally published October 15, 2025 at 1:41 PM.
