Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 23, 1993 TAG: 9307230068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LEIGH ALLEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Firefighters were called to Caesars Palace on Townside Road just after 1 a.m. When they arrived they found flames roaring.
"The furniture was on fire," said District Chief Bev Mitchell. "Fire was traveling through the ceiling."
No one was injured and the building had not been occupied since Sunday night. The club, under new management, had opened this past weekend for the first time in several months.
The walls were left standing Thursday, but most of the inside was consumed in the fire. Fire officials estimated the damage at $200,000, leaving some residents of the neighboring Edge Hill Estates apartment complex hopeful the club would not be rebuilt.
"Little kids run around here all the time, and there's drunk drivers and stuff," said Chris Small, 11, who lives about 100 feet from Caesars' front gate. "I hope they never build it back."
The owners of the club could not be reached Thursday to say whether it would be rebuilt.
Some residents of the apartment complex said that in the one weekend since its reopening, the club had not experienced as much noise or rowdiness as it had before it closed.
"These new owners kept the music down lower than it was before," said 21-year-old Alvina Crockett, a frequent visitor to the club. Crockett said that when residents of her apartments passed around a petition to have the club closed, she didn't sign it.
"I hope they build it back," she said.
Assistant Fire Marshal Bob Meyer said a preliminary investigation showed that shorting in electrical wires in the ceiling could have sparked the fire, which produced 1,500- to 2,000-degree temperatures.
Meyer said burn patterns inside the building indicate that the fire may have been smoldering for several hours.
Staff writer Ron Brown provided information for this story.
by CNB