At approximately 7 am Wednesday morning, Chestertown Volunteer Fire Dept. 6 responded to a fire at 98 Cannon Riverfront Grille in Chestertown. First responders and fire trucks from Church Hill Volunteer Fire Department, Betterton Volunteer Fire Company and others assisted.
The landmark restaurant on the Chester River suffered extreme damage to the kitchen area, including structural damage to the east side of the building, and smoke damage throughout.
There are no reports of injuries.
The Chestertown Volunteer Fire Department posted this description of the fire: “Because of the tremendous volume of fire in the kitchen area, and the volume of smoke generated as a result, heat and smoke created extremely challenging working conditions. When our Tower 6 arrived, they immediately set-up the elevating platform to the roof, with instructions to cut a vent hole for vertical ventilation. Investigating the integrity of the roof, the Tower crew determined its condition, over the main body of fire, was soft and unstable. This necessitated placing the vent hole more towards the downriver side of the structure. It required the efforts of 60 firefighters to control this fire.” For more details, see the CVFD Facebook page here.
98 Cannon Riverfront Grille has been a restaurant site since 1975, first as The Old Wharf, then as The Fish Whistle. The Fish Whistle moved to Georgetown in 2019. In 2003, the site was severely damaged by Hurricane Isabel.
Video by Bruce Brown.
Write a Letter to the Editor on this Article
We encourage readers to offer their point of view on this article by submitting the following form. Editing is sometimes necessary and is done at the discretion of the editorial staff.