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Tacoma community helps restaurant owner after kitchen fire
The owner of a popular Tacoma restaurant is recovering after she was injured in a kitchen fire at her home.
TACOMA, Wash. - The owner of a popular Tacoma restaurant is recovering after she was injured in a kitchen fire at her home.
Hailey Hernandez, who co-owns Side Piece Kitchen, along with her husband Dante, says she was using the oven at her house when a bottle exploded, leaving her with burns on 30% of her body.
Family and friends say Hailey Hernandez received 2nd to 3rd degree burns in the fire.
They've created a fundraiser to help her as she works to recover following the tragedy.
Dig deeper:
We first met Hailey Hernandez and her husband Dante more than a year ago at Side Piece Kitchen while on a different story. This is a picture of her below during that interview in November 2024.
They went on to plan several fundraisers in the following months, including using their most popular items to raise money for the community.
"Our main thing is biscuits, and everything is biscuits," said Hailey during that previous interview.
Now family friend and employee Maggie Turney says it's Hailey that could use the assistance.
This is a still image showing her bandaged up with serious injuries after she was burned during a house fire on February 2nd.
What they're saying:
"She was doing something in the oven and there was an open bottle of rubbing alcohol and somehow that got heated up or the flame traveled from the stove, and it basically created like a fireball in their house," said Maggie Turney, Side Piece Kitchen Employee & Hailey's Friend.
Hailey, who's also about 17 weeks pregnant, posted online that when the bottle exploded, it sent flaming material onto her skin and throughout her kitchen.
"It created an explosion within the oven and then the air. Unfortunately, it burned her because she was the one right there when it happened," said Maggie.
Hailey stated while her robe shielded some of her body, her legs, face and hair were burned, and she was rushed to Harborview Medical Center.
"Thankfully, stop, drop and roll kicked in, and she kicked the robe off so it saved a lot of her body, but unfortunately in the blast, it really did get her hands the skin that was exposed," said Maggie.
Her husband, who was also home, ran to help her and also helped to contain some of the fire until firefighters arrived. Family and friends started an online fundraiser to help.
The fire was captured in the still image below by the family's doorbell security camera.
Screenshot
"Hailey just does so much for the community, and we were like let’s just try to lean on the community for a little bit of support and see what happens, and the response has just been overwhelming," said Maggie.
What you can do:
Maggie says folks can also support Hailey and Dante by donating online or by stopping by the Side Piece Kitchen restaurant to support the business, which is still open and manned by dedicated employees.
"Get some cheesecake and biscuits. We are still here, our normal business hours, and we are doing everything we can to survive without them, but we know we can do it," said Maggie.
The Source: Information in this story comes from original reporting by FOX 13 Seattle.
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