Flaming Torch fire being investigated as possible arson

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A fire at the Uptown restaurant The Flaming Torch on Sunday night (Jan. 29) is being investigated as possible arson, the New Orleans Fire Department confirmed Thursday. But the department said it doesn't currently suspect the restaurant owner's Iranian nationality played a role in the incident. "Currently we have no reason to believe that the owner's nationality had any relation to this incident," an NOFD spokeswoman said in a statement. She said the investigation is active and that no further details were available. The restaurant's owner, Zohreh Khaleghi, said surveillance footage from a restaurant camera captured a masked man dowsing the kitchen and dining room with what appeared to be a liquid around 8:20 p.m. Sunday, while Khaleghi was doing inventory in her second-floor office. She realized something was wrong, she said, as smoke began billowing up into the second floor moments later, forcing her to make an emergency exit through a door in the roof. She then dialed 911. A fire truck arrived shortly thereafter, she said.

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