Oh! Brian’s restaurant, 4818 N.C. 55, was hardest hit. The owners said a fire apparently began in a trash can outside and spread to the roof, burning through a wide swath. A few hundred feet away, behind a Food Lion grocery store at 4900 N.C. 55, two Dumpsters had been set ablaze and a wall and a storage unit had been painted with swastikas, the letters "KKK" and an anti-black racial slur.

Firefighters also doused a fire that had been started in a pile of old tires left behind Colonial Tire and Automotive, 2105 N.C. 54, before it reached the building about 20 feet away, according to an employee at a neighboring business reached by telephone. Bales of cardboard boxes also were burned behind a Big Lots store at 4723 N.C. 55.

Fire officials still were investigating and had not yet officially determined that the fires were a result of arson, said Capt. Willie Hall, the acting battalion chief. "All I can tell you right now is that it’s under investigation to try to determine what happened," he said. Hall said he had not heard about the racial graffiti and did not know whether it was part of any investigation. Lt. D.C. Allen, the police department watch commander on duty, said he did not know of any police investigation.

At Oh! Brian’s, owners Stephanie and Todd Renshaw and their staff spent the morning and afternoon finding places to store or give away scads of perishable food the restaurant had stocked for the weekend, which includes graduations at N.C. Central and Duke universities and Mother’s Day. The carpet under the damaged roof squished underfoot from water used to extinguish the blaze, and heaps of soggy roofing and insulation were piled up.

"It’s kind of hard to see our business in this manner," said Steve Moore, the general manager. "This is our livelihood." The restaurant will be closed until repairs are completed, he said.

At 6:31 p.m., Durham firefighters responded to another fire across the street from Oh! Brian's, at Cappy's restaurant, the 5th fire of the day in the area of 55 and 54 hwy. Firefighters got the fire under control within 10 minutes. Part of the roof was damaged and the interior suffered smoke and water damage, shutting the restaurant indefinitely, Capt. Willie Hall said. The cause is under investigation.