On May 25, the day before a fire tore through Maison Close restaurant at 435 East Lake Drive in Montauk, David Browne, the chief fire marshal for the town, did a routine fire inspection and found 11 violations.
“The space was beautiful,” he said in a phone conversation after the fire. “People were pre-cooking food. They were champing at the bit to open.”
Ironically, two weeks after the establishment burned to the ground, the fire marshal’s office sent a letter to Maison Close, dated June 15, saying it was “required to take appropriate action to fix, repair or otherwise remedy the violations noted,” and that a reinspection would confirm compliance.
Most of the violations noted by Mr. Browne in the report seemed routine. Four involved improper use of electrical cords and three more cited overdue servicing of fire suppression equipment.
One noted “kitchen ceiling over ovens shows signs of previous burn and heat damage. Recommend repairs be made as soon as possible.” Another mentioned two outlet boxes over the kitchen ovens that “show signs of heavily [sic] heat damage, heavily discolored.”
Mr. Browne was unavailable for comment this week.
In a phone conversation after the fire, he said that while his office believed the fire started in the kitchen area, the exact cause was unknown, which was reflected in the official report released this week. “Everything burned right up. The damage was so severe, it’s hard to determine exactly what caused it.” He said an excavator who came in shortly after the fire to demolish the building, helped the investigation by moving debris out of the way. Only two walls were left standing after the fire, he said, and the roof had completely caved in.
The incident report for the structure fire on May 26, written by Alexander Errico, a fire marshal, reports that the alarm sounded at 12:13 a.m., and it took between 10 and 19 minutes for firefighters to arrive on scene. The area of the fire origin, equipment involved in ignition, form of ignition, and type of material ignited, were all “undetermined.”
The extent of the flame, smoke, and water damage from the fire “extended beyond” the structure, and the fire was ultimately terminated “in flame stage,” according to the report. Flames spread horizontally through the structure, igniting multiple types of material.
The East Lake Drive property is five acres and includes 6.75 acres of additional underwater land with 22 boat slips.
The restaurant was due to hold a grand opening that weekend. Long home to Rick’s Crabby Cowboy Cafe, it had sold in April 2021 for $13.9 million. Later that year, the East Hampton Town Planning Board panned a proposed 14-unit luxury resort for the spot.