Ice cream parlor, pet store destroyed in Issaquah fire

Two popular Issaquah businesses were destroyed yesterday in an early-morning fire.

Earth Pet and Far Far's Danish Ice Cream Parlor, both in a strip mall at 660 Front St. N., were engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived after receiving a call at 2:31 a.m. Neither business could be saved.

No one was injured in the fire, but Cindi, a 14-year-old cat that lived at the pet-supply store, was missing and feared dead.

An Issaquah police officer driving in the area saw smoke and reported it. Emergency workers also received a call from some of the locked-out workers picketing at Darigold, across the street.

"We started with an offensive attack, but the roof was too far gone to go in," said Josie Williams, spokeswoman for Eastside Fire and Rescue. "For safety reasons, we went into a defensive mode and fought the fire from the outside."

It took more than an hour for firefighters to control the blaze. A damage estimate was not available yesterday.

The suspected cause is electric, but firefighters were still working to determine what happened.

Kristina Bock, 27, the owner of Earth Pet, said the store was having power surges before she left Monday around 8:30 p.m.

An employee of Bock's store, an environmentally conscious place for pet products, saw the news reports and called her boss around 8 a.m. Loyal fans dropped by all day to offer condolences. People in the pet community contacted Bock to offer help.

It was Bock's first business venture and she had just celebrated the store's second anniversary.

She and employees, who rearranged the entire store on Sunday, said the biggest loss was that of nearly 500 framed photos of customers' pets on the store's walls.

Next door at Far Far's, the only remaining store in what was once a popular Washington franchise, all that remained were charred tables and chairs. Some of the building had to be torn down for safety.

The owners of both businesses are insured and are making plans to rebuild.

A nearby chowder restaurant and day-care center were not damaged.

Front Street, Issaquah's main drag, was closed for about two hours during the fire and the right northbound lane remained closed throughout the day.

The Bellevue Fire Department helped to fight the flames and agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives helped the local fire marshal with the inspection, Williams said.

Leslie Fulbright: 206-515-5637 or lfulbright@seattletimes.com