An electrical fire Sunday morning shut down a Main Street restaurant in Bangor for the day.

Burning electrical wires caused Miller’s Restaurant to close around 11 a.m. Nobody was injured in the incident.

A Bangor fire crew arrived to find toxic smoke and water on the floor in the basement, according to Assistant Fire Chief Rick Cheverie. A fire was found in an electrical panel that caused the plastic coating on wires to melt, Cheverie said.

Firefighters evacuated employees and a few patrons and waited until a representative from Bangor Hydro-Electric Co. disconnected the power around 11:30 a.m., Cheverie said. The fire was contained in the electrical panel and was put out using a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher.

The fire apparently started after water leaked into the electrical panel from around a steel conduit that led wires into the building from a transformer outside, Cheverie said.

Electricians worked on replacing the electrical panel during the afternoon, and the business hoped to reopen at 11 a.m. today, according to George Pooler, manager for Miller’s off-track betting section. Power had been restored to vital items such as the freezers early Sunday afternoon, Pooler said.

A Bangor man was arrested early Sunday after grabbing his roommate by the throat.

John Yoder, 39, was charged with assault and taken to Penobscot County Jail after a stop at Eastern Maine Medical Center to stitch up his hand.

A woman had reported a fight at 1030 Ohio St. at 1:20 a.m. Sunday. When Officer Brad Hanson arrived, he found a woman crying and shaking, according to his report. Hanson saw a broken fax machine on the floor, broken light fixtures on the table and blood around the apartment.

The woman told Hanson that she had come home at 7:45 p.m. Saturday to find Yoder intoxicated. The two played cards and at 1 a.m. she attempted to go to sleep on a couch. Yoder invited the woman to his bedroom, and, when she declined, he grew belligerent and threw a fax machine at the couch, according to Hanson’s report. The woman tried to quiet him down but he grabbed her by the throat and arm and pinned her to a door, the report said. The woman said she broke free and called 911. She reported that he had assaulted her three other times, but that she never reported it, according to Hanson’s report.

Hanson called Yoder out from the back of the apartment and arrested him. Yoder was taken to EMMC for a cut that appeared to have come from broken light fixtures, according to the report.

– Compiled by NEWS reporter Anthony Saucier