ALTAMONT — The Farmhouse Tap + Tavern in Altamont is without a pizza station after a chimney fire over the weekend, but the restaurant is otherwise open for full service. 

The restaurant’s founder and general manager Jackie Silvestri-Edwards told The Enterprise on Monday that Altamont Fire Department volunteer Kyle Haines “noticed there were sparks when driving by” on Saturday, and went inside to alert the staff and let them know the fire department was on its way. 

In the meantime, Farmhouse’s chef, Seth Corey, “went on the roof and put two fire extinguishers down the chimney to put out the fire,” she said.

Minutes after that, the Altamont and Guilderland Center fire departments were on the scene to make sure the fire was completely extinguished, Silvestri-Edwards said, adding that it was “just a chimney cap/fan fire and was contained within the chimney itself,” and didn’t make contact with other buildings. 

She said they don’t know what caused the fire, and that they have the chimney cleaned every six months. An investigation is ongoing. 

On Monday, Silvestri-Edwards said, the health department “gave us the green light to open for service as nothing was compromised.” 

Silvestri told The Enterprise that she doesn’t know when the pizza station might be available again as she’s currently looking into repairs. She said that Farmhouse will be doing “family meals” for the next few weeks “since a lot of people enjoyed our pizzas for takeout for a quick and cheap option to feed a few people.”

Silvestri said the restaurant wants “to give a big shout-out to Kyle for his response and the Altamont and Guilderland Center fire departments for their help in making sure everything and everyone was safe.”