Investigators suspect arson sparked a two-alarm blaze at a southeast Houston bar that recently shut down, KPRC Local 2 reported Monday.
Firefighters from Klein, Champions, Oak Creek Village and Houston fire departments arrived at the closed-down nightclub on Old Spanish Trail at Telge Street at about 3:50 a.m. and found flames and heavy smoke coming from the front door.
Not long after firefighters arrived, heavy flames shot through the roof and spread to the rear of the building.
"It was an arson-burglary. It looks like somebody broke in the front of the building and poured some flammable liquids in one of the back rooms. We found some things missing. Evidently it got too hot for them and they left some of it inside," arson investigator T.B. Tooke told KPRC Local 2.
Authorities also said a cigarette machine was smashed and several boxes of cigarettes were stolen.
Officials with the Houston Fire Department pulled two alarms initially because of the building's size -- a 6,000 square-foot wood-frame structure.
Firefighters said they smelled gas and some type of flammable liquid when they entered the front of the building to attack the fire.
Investigators said the fire was also suspicious because there was no power servicing the building.
Two rooms, the roof and the attic were gutted in the fire.
No injuries were reported.
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