Steve Ploubidis is in hospital recovering from burns he suffered following a fire at his Greek restaurant in north-east Adelaide.
The Greek Australian suffered burns while at his restaurant ‘Plato’s Greek Chargrill’ in Walkerville on Wednesday during the lunchtime preparation with the fire emerging just minutes before it was meant to open, as reported by 9News.
Thick clouds of black smoke were seen coming out of the restaurant with Ploubidis cooking when the fire broke out.
A witness to the scene, Mahdi, told 9News that they “came out and we saw the owner’s actually on fire so he’s walking out so we quickly went back and got all the water bottles to pour on him.”
The ceiling collapsed as the fire spread and people jumped in with fire extinguishers to battle the blaze.
“Once the roof kind of collapsed, a whole heap of black smoke came out as well,” Mahdi said.
Firefighters arrived at around 11.20am to put out the fire with paramedics tending to Ploubidis’ burns to his head, arms and body.
The owner and former high-profile head of the South Australian Jockey Club was taken the Royal Adelaide Hospital for further treatment.
“I know the shop meant a lot to him and I think that’s why he kept trying to put the fire out himself,” Mahdi said.
No other injuries were reported.
The fire was contained to the restaurant, though several neighbouring businesses suffered smoke and water damage, and it was extinguished completely about 40 minutes later.
The Metropolitan Fire Service estimated that the restaurant suffered about $500,000 worth of structural damage as a result of the fire.
Fire investigators are working to determine the cause of the blaze.
