Photo by Pearce Adams

Glenn Hardy consults with electricians after a generator was used to power a smoker and refrigeration units outside the Ole County Smokehouse on S.C. 81 following a fire.

At noon Wednesday, 600 pounds of beef and pork were simmering at an Anderson restaurant, a sign that business was back to normal after a fire six hours earlier.

In spite of a power outage, damaged ceiling tiles and piles of insulation on the kitchen floor and a hole in the metal roof, the Ole Country Smokehouse on S.C. 81 was back in business, said owner Glenn Hardy.

But the fire could not have come at a worse time, he said.

Hardy was anticipating a big demand over the Labor Day Weekend and by about 200 pilots and their wives at this weekend’s BalloonFest in Anderson.

“I’ll figure out how,” Hardy said. “All I can do it try.”

To meet the demand, Hardy is using a generator on S.C. 81 to power the restaurant’s smoker and refrigeration units to keep a supply of barbecue to Hardy’s two other restaurants on Main Street in Anderson and the S.C. 28 Bypass.

“Smoke was billowing everywhere man” when employees arrived about 6 a.m. at the S.C. 81 restaurant, Hardy said.

A failed motor in an air handler is suspected of causing the fire, he said.

Jimmy Sutherland, assistant chief with the Anderson County Fire Department, said the 6 a.m. fire, which caused moderate damage, is considered accidental.

Hardy said his alarm company called him about 6:20 a.m. to report entry into the restaurant. The alarm was triggered by firefighters, responding to a motorist’s report of smoke, as they climbed on the roof and forced their way inside the restaurant moments before employees arrived, he said.