No one was injured in the fire. But Fire Chief William Fennoy said it appears that the fire was intentionally set.
Cedric Taylor, the club owner, was clueless as to who would want to torch his building. But he said investigators found a plastic soda bottle on the roof that was apparently used to start the blaze.
"It was taken to the lab to be processed for fingerprints," he said.
An alert caller summoned the Fire Department at 3:35 a.m. before too much damage could occur.
When firefighters arrived at the nightclub, "flames were visible from the roof of the structure," Fennoy said.
Fennoy said it was out in "five to 10 minutes."
The building sustained light damage to the roof, he said.
An arson investigator from the Illinois state fire marshal's office is investigating the blaze.
Taylor said he is grateful to the caller for being alert enough to report the fire.
He is offering a $5,000 reward for "information leading to an arrest and the successful conviction of the person who did this."
Additionally, Taylor said, "We're analyzing a surveillance video and hopefully it will lead us to whoever did it."
"We're not going to tolerate this kind of thing," Taylor said.
Taylor praised the quick action by city firefighters to put out the fire.
The club is open only on weekends and Taylor said the club will be open this weekend.
Contact Carolyn P. Smith at (mailto:csmithbnd.com) csmithbnd.com or 239-2503.
