Turtle Shack Cafe in Flagler Beach Sustains ‘Significant’ Damage in Early Morning Fire

Turtle Shack Cafe, the popular Flagler Beach restaurant operating for two and a half decades between 21s and 22nd Street on State Road A1A, was damaged in an early-morning fire, drawing firefighters from across the county. The fire is believed to have started in the kitchen, but is still under investigation by the Flagler Beach fire marshal.

Flagler County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Mike Pious, who took over as incident commander, described the damage as “moderate” and “fixable,” with some areas of the restaurant untouched, “but we’ll have some smoke damage, and then other areas have significant fire damage.” A limited back portion of the 1,700-square-foot building showed considerable damage, though the seating area appeared largely spared. “It looks like it did start in the kitchen.” But he cautioned that he was not the investigator who makes such determinations.




Firefighters were dispatched at 6:14 a.m., and first arrived at 6:20. Flagler Beach Engine Rescue 11 and Flagler County’s Rescue 11 were first on scene, calling in a “working commercial building fire with heavy fire and heavy smoke activity,” Pius said. They evaluated the scene through a 360-degree assessment, looked for any possible victims (there were none, inside or outside the building), and called in additional units as they started deploying hose lines.

Flagler County Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Mike Pious, who took over as incident commander, arrived at the scene shortly afterward, as did additional Flagler County Fire Rescue and Palm Coast Fire Department units. “We organized a fire attack and searched for victims in the building,” Pius said. “Even though the building was closed, the fire department always does a primary search for victims. Water was applied to the fire. Ventilation was beginning to be established, but we had some fire where we had some heat coming out of that dormer up top there.” He pointed to the dormer in the roof above the area of the kitchen.

Palm Coast’s Tower 24 deployed its ladder and cut a hole in the roof to establish “vertical ventilation” so that “the natural mechanism brings the fire out,” Pius said. “We had a lot of heat and fire up in that dormer there. If we if we were going to apply water to it, we needed a place for that heat to go.”




The wood ceiling was an obstacle. “It’s not a simple dry while we take a hook to and just pull it down,” the battalion chief said. “You’re going to need need a saw and a ladder and some manpower to really get in there and get it going. So it’s possible that we would have had to go in from the top, which we don’t normally like to do. However, the interior crews made access, and we got a solid knock down on the fire relatively quickly.” By sunup just before 7, the fire was out.

“Now we’re in overhaul phase. Now we’re in the part where we’re taking out a lot of the heavy equipment and the hot stuff and cooling everything down,” Pius said, speaking just outside the building. “We don’t want a rekindle later, because it just takes one one little hot ember, and we can be back this afternoon.”

Flagler County Fire Chief Michael Tucker, who was also at the scene, said “here’s going to be a good amount of work they’re going to have to do to get back in business.”

A1A was closed between 21st and 22nd Streets for a few hours. The Turtle Shack opened shortly after the new millennium under a different ownership, reopening in 2011 under its current owners. “Thank you for all of the outpouring of good vibes,” the restaurant’s Facebook page posted before 9 this morning. “Nobody was hurt as we are closed every Monday. We will post more as we get more information.”