The former home of The Grill and the Red Room in downtown Tucson were heavily damaged in a two-alarm fire early this morning, officials said.
Both businesses closed in 2011. A chandelier was in a trash can in front of the former restaurant Tuesday afternoon.
Chain-link fences were going up around the building and the windows were to be boarded up.
The businesses on either side in the same building, Wig-O-Rama and Voodoo Jack’s, may have smoke and water damage, but a fire wall separated the fire from Voodoo Jack’s, said Tucson Fire Capt. Barrett Baker.
It will be up to city building safety officials to determine how much of the building can be saved.
Several 911 calls were made about 3:30 a.m. reporting smoke from the building in the 100 block of East Congress Street, Baker said.
Flames and smoke were shooting from the historic building when the first fire units arrived about three minutes later.
The crew determined the rooftop was too dangerous for firefighters and crews enter the building from the south side to fight the blaze. No one was inside.
Firefighters were pulled from inside the building after about 14 minutes when it was determined that the attic fire and the many renovations to the building made it unsafe.
Once the majority of the fire was extinguished from outside the building above crews went back inside.
Several air conditioning units fell through the roof.
None of the more than 40 firefighters who helped extinguish the blaze was injured.
The cause of the blaze is being investigated, Baker said. An initial estimate on the damage was $750,000.
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