Fire breaks out at Town and Country Restaurant in King

(By Leslie Bray, The Stokes News) - Sirens sounded during the Memorial Day service at Central Park in King on Sunday evening. The call had come in at 5:58 p.m. that the Town and Country Restaurant, a downtown King landmark, was on fire.

By about 6:30 p.m., the blaze had lessened considerably, but dark gray smoke was still pouring from a small opening above the door on the side of the building. Main Street was closed from the Kirby Road stoplight at CVS to Jefferson Church Road until just before 9 p.m. as firefighters battled the flames.

King Fire Chief Steven Roberson reports that the preliminary investigations show the cause of the fire was an electrical short in the clothes dryer. He doesn't know at this time if the short started in the dryer cord or the wall socket. On Monday, Roberson called in the SBI for assistance in the investigation since such a large monetary amount of damage was done. At this time, the cause has been determined as accidental.