Exit 4 Restaurant Fire injures Waitress

A waitress had to be airlifted to the hospital after a Monday morning fire at the Bootland Diner in Oconee County. The restaurant is located next to the convenience store at the Mobile Station at Exit 4 on I85. Dozens of firefighters from Oconee and Anderson counties were deployed to the scene around 11am, when people inside the restaurant called 911 to report an explosion in the kitchen. The Oconee County Fire Department is still investigating what ignited the fire.  Firefighters got the flames under control within about 15 minutes, containing the fire to the kitchen and dining room. The convenience store connected to the restaurant has extensive fire and water damage.  For owner Gene Mapes, concern now is for his 21-year-old granddaughter, who is a waitress at the diner, as she was airlifted to the Burn Center Hospital in Augusta with 2nd-degree burns. This was the second kitchen fire in about two years reported at Bootland Diner.