Hampton Fire Chief Chris Silver said the fire at O'Leary's Grill on Friday morning was caused by an electric jukebox attached to a wall at the Lafayette Road establishment.

He said the restaurant, located at 816 Lafayette Road, sustained serious smoke and water damage, but no one was injured in the blaze.

"There was extensive smoke damage throughout the building," Silver said. "It's going to take them a while to get in and get it all cleaned up. I would say several weeks."

The initial alarm came in around 9:30 a.m., he said, and within minutes the Fire Department had received several calls from people in the area reporting smoke coming from the building. One Hampton ambulance was out on a call at the time, but all remaining on-duty personnel responded to the scene.

Silver, the first to arrive, said he observed "a real dense, thick, black smoke," the kind usually seen when there is some kind of plastic material burning.

A sprinkler inside the building largely contained the blaze to the bar area, allowing firefighters to extinguish it with just one hose.

"You have to give some credit to the sprinkler system for keeping the fire contained," Silver said. "It couldn't fully extinguish it, but it prevented it from extending beyond that area."

No one was inside the building when the fire started, he said, and no firefighters were injured battling the blaze.

Lt. Brillard, Firefighter Jameson and Captain Stevens of the Hampton Fire Department work to stretch a line into O'Learys. [Photos credit John Pielher]