UPDATE: Fire at The Dory

Shelter Island Fire Department Assistant Chief Anthony Reiter said a call came in at 6:13 p.m. Monday, for a fire at The Dory on Bridge Street. A Fire Commissioners  meeting at the Heights firehouse was just breaking up when the call came in.

Firefighters responded within five minutes of the call, and back-up was requested from the Greenport Fire Department, which dispatched 10 to 12 firefighters.

It was then just a matter of “knocking it down,” Chief Reiter said.

No serious injuries were reported. “There was no one inside” the bar/restaurant, the chief said, when they arrived. Owner Jack Kiffer said there had been 10 or 15 patrons in The Dory who all left without incident. Three firefighters suffered excessive heat, not only from the fire inside and on the roof, but because of the heat of the early evening.

The fire started in the kitchen, the chief reported, in a compressor of an ice machine and quickly spread to the ceiling of the old building and straight up to the roof.

The building is still standing, but looking at the structure, it was obvious there was severe water damage in addition to the fire, with water all around the front of the building.

The quick response and expert work by the Fire Department probably saved several businesses along Bridge Street.

Below is the Reporter’s original post.

A fire broke out at The Dory on Bridge Street in the late afternoon today.

Fire Department volunteers responded and the owner of the bar/restaurant, Jack Kiffer, said at a little past 6 p.m. there were no injuries, and the fire was out. Preliminary information, Mr. Kiffer said, was that the fire started in the ceiling.

There had been a meeting at the Heights Firehouse when the call came in, so volunteers were dispatched quickly down the hill to fight the blaze.

Mr. Kiffer, who took over the Bridge Street watering hole in 2004, is the fifth owner of the place, which was built in 1925.

The Reporter will provide more information when it’s received.