Country Fire Service investigating blaze that sent cafe up in flames and burned two others

The CFS said it took more than five hours to control the blaze which spread to adjacent buildings.

Three businesses, including two cafes and a butchers, caught fire on Dauncey Street in Kingscote, Kangaroo Island. Picture: SA CFS

The owner of a longstanding Kangaroo Island cafe said she lost everything in a blaze that took firefighters more than five hours to put out.

Jenny Llewellin ran the Lighthouse Cafe for 16 years before a fire on Sunday night hollowed out the corner shop in Kingscote.

“Everything is gone … all I’ve got is a shell,” Ms Llewellin told The Advertiser.

The Country Fire Service were called to the Dauncey St shopfront just before 5:30pm and found it “well alight” according to incident logs.

It took ten fire trucks carrying 36 firefighters to douse the flames, finally controlling it at approximately 10:45pm.

A CFS spokeswoman said the second story of the building suffered the worst damage, with crews working to stop the flames spreading from the roof.

Northcotts Fine Foods next door was also burnt and Cafe Scrumptious on the other side also suffered smoke damage, according to the spokeswoman.

The CFS said the total damage bill is estimated at $500k.

The cause of the fire has not been determined and fire investigators are currently at the scene.

It comes after fire destroyed The Shy Wren restaurant at Penneshaw in $1m blaze in June followed by the Odd Plate at the Seaview Motel in August with an estimated damage bill of $500k.

The owners of Cafe Scrumptious took to Facebook expressing their condolences and confirming the business will remain closed for the time being.

“We are incredibly overwhelmed & grateful for the love, thoughtful messages & help offered from our friends, followers & Scrumptious family,” the post read.

“Thank you from the bottom of our heart to the CFS & all involved in helping stop the fire from spreading to our cafe!

“Our thoughts are with Jaqui & Damien from Elbrac meat & Jenny from the lighthouse.”

Originally published as Country Fire Service investigating blaze that sent cafe up in flames and burned two others