A RESTAURANT owner praised the quick thinking actions of a man who put out a dish washer fire.

Suzanne Winfield, owner of Doodahs Restaurant, in Rawtenstall, said her sister's 29-year-old fiance had helped prevent the fire, which destroyed the £2,000 dishwasher, from spreading through his actions.

Liam Clark used a powder fire extinguisher after the industrial dishwasher in the kitchen caught fire at 10.21am today.

Ms Winfield said: "There was smoke and flames coming out of the dishwasher.

"My sister's fiance got the fire extinguisher and put the fire out it was out in a few minutes.

"His actions prpbably stopped it getting worse or spreading."

Customers were evacuated from the building but returned half an hour later.

The restaurant then served served drinks and cakes only until the dry powder was cleared from the kitchen.

Ms Winfield said: "We were back up and running wihtin 30 minutes and serving food in two hours.

"All the food we prepared had to be thrown away and the cutlery and surfaces cleaned because of the powder.

"And at the moment we are doing all the washing by hand until we can replace the dish washer next week."

Watch manager Tom Simpson said the fire at the restaraunt on Bank Street was caused by an electrical fault in the dish washer.

He said: "We had to dismantle the machine and secure it but the fire had already been put out with a powder fire extinguisher by the time we got there.

"They did the correct thing and got everyone out of the building."