The owner of the Skyway Cafe at Felts Field says the iconic restaurant is a ‘total loss’ from smoke damage

A fire at Felts Field destroyed a popular breakfast and lunch restaurant early Thursday.

Firefighters were called to the Skyway Cafe, 6105 E. Rutter Ave., around 4:40 a.m., Spokane Fire Department spokesman Justin DeRuyter said.

Skyway owner Sandra Melter said in an on-site interview that the cafe is a “total loss,” but she vowed to reopen as soon as possible.

Skyway Cafe is one of the longest running restaurants in Spokane with a history dating back about 100 years when the Zoom Inn first opened on the site.

The city department responded with three fire trucks and five engines. It took about half an hour to extinguish the fire.

DeRuyter referred questions about damage and the cause of the fire to Spokane International Airport, which owns Felts Field.

Airport spokesman Todd Woodard said a full review of the facility needs to be done, but there appears to be damage to the kitchen, HVAC equipment and roof membrane. No structural damage is apparent, he said.

Open windows and doors to the terminal vented the smell of smoke from the rest of the building. Woodard said there are no other businesses in the building, so operations are not affected. The terminal contains toilets and a flight planning room for pilots.

KHQ reported that the fire started in a grease valve and that the building sustained extensive smoke damage.

Melter said the fire was electrical.

Felts Field opened under the name Parkwater Airstrip in 1913. The air terminal, which includes the Skyway, was built in 1924.

“It’s unfortunate,” regular customer Kimberly Cornelius said Thursday morning after pulling into the parking lot and learning what happened. Cornelius said she eats at the cafe all the time for the “good food and friendly service.”

Melter said she hopes to reopen in a few months.

“We have to rebuild,” Melter said. “We’ve been here for 100 years. We’ll be back.”

This report will be updated.