Second in less than a month at the Roca brothers’ restaurants. If on November 4, the establishment affected this morning was the Normal, located in Plaça de l’Oli, in the Barri Vell of Girona. The firefighters received the notification a few minutes after dawn and six crews were brought to the scene. The fire has mainly affected the extractor hood, the chimney and nearby materials, as reported by Bombers de la Generalitat. The neighbors abandoned the property when they detected the fire, but were able to return to their homes shortly before two-thirty in the morning.
He has also reported the incident on the social network “X”, ensuring that the fire has caused little damage, that there have been no injuries and that they will try to reopen the establishment as soon as possible. The scientific police and experts visited the premises this Friday morning.
El Normal, a restaurant that three disciples of El Celler de Can Roca opened on July 9, 2021, usually closes at twelve thirty at night, according to Eli Nolla, the chef and director of the establishment, but “this Thursday had been a slow day and at midnight it was already closed.” Jordi, the owner of the wall walla wine shop next door, went out to clean up his terrace when he saw the fire. “I saw flames in the Normal kitchen.” He called 112 and the firefighters and Municipal Police arrived immediately. “They caught it very quickly, you could say that in half an hour it was under control, but it was hot, there was a lot of smoke throughout the premises, the ventilation is what it is and it was difficult to get the smoke and heat out of the fire,” Nolla said.
“It is believed that the fire originated in the kitchen and went up through the extraction duct to the top of the building, luckily it was a small, very focused fire and there was only material damage,” explains the director. Given the possibility that they left an ember burning, he states: “In principle we always have control, we always look at it and although we don’t know it, we don’t believe it because everything is left closed.” In this sense, he points out that “now will be the time for experts and insurance and see what needs to be changed and what can be fixed, but basically the material damage is concentrated in the fire zone, the rest is cleaning, throwing away everything that is plastic and clothing, we will have to see if the smell of smoke goes away or not.”
Curiously, the most affected location is the neighbor wall wall, because they share conduits and the fire has destroyed them. The place was flooded with water and the firefighters caused the roof to fall in the area where they have the kitchen. “Most of the kitchen machines have become useless,” laments sadly Jordi, a former employee of another of the restaurants that the Roca brothers have in the Barri Vell.
Three weeks ago, the Roca family experienced another disaster in a . In this case, in the one located in the Girona town of Vilablareix. In this case, the fire had greater consequences, since it completely destroyed the large wooden dome of the establishment and affected two adjoining buildings, an annex that was used as a kitchen next door, another annex located in the back that served as a warehouse and a restaurant room.
The family remembers that they have had their businesses open for decades and nothing has ever happened to them; they attribute these two cases to “a coincidence.”
A fire at the Normal restaurant, at midnight. No one hurt you. Thanks to the Girona Municipal Police. We are sorry for the inconvenience to the neighbors and colleagues of the Mur Mur. Nothing serious that can’t be fixed. we will try to open as soon as possible. Fire in the kitchen and little damage.
— Josep Roca Fontané (@JosepPituRoca)
