Steve Ploubidis is in hospital recovering from burns he suffered in a fire at his Greek restaurant in north-east Adelaide.

A Greek Australian suffered burns Wednesday at his Walkerville restaurant, Plato’s Greek Chargrill, while preparing dinner, and the fire broke out just minutes before it was due to open, according to reports. 9News.

When the fire broke out, thick clouds of black smoke billowed from the restaurant where Ploubidis was cooking.

A witness to the incident, Mahdi, said: 9News that “they came out and we saw that the owner was actually on fire, so he was leaving, so we quickly went back and took all the bottles of water to blow him off.”

As the fire spread, the ceiling collapsed and people rushed to fight the blaze with fire extinguishers.

“When the roof collapsed, there was a whole cloud of black smoke in the air,” Mahdi said.

Firefighters arrived at the scene at about 11:20 a.m. to extinguish the fire, while paramedics treated burns to Ploubidis’ head, arms and body.

The owner and former chairman of the South Australian Jockey Club was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital for further treatment.

“I know the store meant a lot to him and I think that’s why he tried to put out the fire himself,” Mahdi said.

No other injuries were reported.

The fire was contained to the restaurant, although other nearby establishments suffered smoke and water damage. The fire was fully extinguished about 40 minutes later.

The Metropolitan Fire Service estimated the restaurant suffered approximately $500,000 in structural damage as a result of the fire.

Fire investigators are working to determine the cause of the fire.