A fire started inside the Moose Lodge in Chesapeake around 11:00 p.m. Tuesday night. Firefighters did all they could to save the building but in the end, the fire won the battle.
More than 40 firefighters worked together to knock down the flames that were shooting from the Chesapeake Moose Lodge but the fire was too involved to save the building.
A Chesapeake police officer noticed smoke pouring from the building and made the call to firefighters. When firefighters arrived, they knew it would be difficult to save the building. They rushed in to make sure no one was inside. Then, they had to leave the building to keep the firefighters safe.
Chesapeake firefighters called in help from Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Portsmouth because the fire was so intense.
When firefighters saw it was this building on fire, they knew it would be a challenge. That's because of the roof. It's called a "bow string" roof. It looks like a bow and arrow turned upside down, according to fire officials.
Back in 1996, two Chesapeake firefighters died while fighting a fire in a building with a bow string roof.
Since then, they identified all similar constructed buildings in the city. So, they knew they'd have to fight this fire from the outside to help keep them safe.
The building was destroyed, but no one was hurt.
