UPDATE: According to Youngsville Fire Chief Blair Rivette, investigators have determined the cause of the fire as “spontaneous combustion of towels and aprons put into an enclosed bag while still hot, and placed into the store room.”

When you look at the front of Bourree Restaurant on Chemin Metarie Pkwy. in Youngsville, you really can’t tell there was a fire. However, when you look inside, you can see the smoke and water damage. Around to the back, where the fire apparently started, you can see the blaze burned a hole in the wall and the roof. The flames were shooting from the building around 5 a.m. Friday.

“We basically just watched, because there’s really nothing you can do,” said Tony Robinson, owner of Bourree.

Tony, and his wife Tina, own the restaurant. They’ve been in business for two years. They say the restaurant is not a total loss, but there’s lots of damage to repair.

“This was in the area of our store rooms and our bathrooms. That’s where the damage was,” said Robinson.

Huya Craft Coffee next door is chipping in to help. They’re collecting donations for the 27 restaurant employees who are now out of work.

“It was a heartbreaking situation to hear about,” said David Hines, owner of Huya Craft Coffee. “I feel for them. I feel for their staff. I’m hoping this is one thing we can do to give them one less thing to worry about.”

The Robinsons are looking forward to rebuilding and reopening.

“That’s our hope, to fix it and reopen. It will be a path to get there, but that’s what we hope,” said Robinson.

ORIGINAL STORY: YOUNGSVILLE, La. (KLFY) – Firefighters battled an early morning fire at Bourre Restaurant in Youngsville.

The fire broke out about 5 a.m. Friday morning. Youngsville firefighters were able to quickly get the fire under control. The fire was contained just to the restaurant and did not spread to other businesses in the area.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.