Smoke was pouring out of all sides of the bar at 2104 Fairgrove Ave. on Friday morning before firefighters from Hamilton and Fairfield Twp. were able to find the flames inside the building and quickly extinguish them.
At about 9:45 a.m., someone at a nearby convenience store told Hendrix, “I think your building’s on fire,” she said.
She walked outside, “and there was just smoke everywhere,” she said. “Smoke was coming out of every crack of the building.”
When the bar, located along Ohio 4, several blocks north of High Street closed at 2:30 a.m., there were “no problems, no nothing,” she said.
“This was not part of our plan,” said Hendrix, who noted the bar had plans for an upcoming fundraiser to help feed the needy and homeless in Hamilton.
“They said that they busted all the ceilings down, the smoke damage is horrendous,” Hendrix said. “They haven’t told me where the fire was yet.”
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As she spoke, watching firefighters put away their equipment, a loud fan cleared the air inside the building.
Deputy Hamilton Fire Chief Jay Wirtz said when firefighters arrived, Hendrix told them nobody was inside. No flames were showing despite the heavy smoke, Wirtz said.
“We went in to try and find the fire — weren’t successful at first, but then on a second attempt, we went in and found it, knocked it down,” he said.
He added that the fire “was in the middle of the building somewhere,” perhaps in the kitchen.
No injuries were reported.
Wirtz estimated it took 20 minutes to snuff out the fire.
A damage estimate wasn’t immediately available.
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