WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. (AP) -- A four-alarm fire has destroyed the White River Amusement Pub and the adjoining storefronts in the same building.
John Wood, the retired chief of the Hartford Fire Department, said no cause has yet been determined for the Sunday night fire.
The building, which is located at the corner of Bridge Street and South Main Street, housed the WRAP, a strip club, The Trend, a costume and jewelry store, and the Silhouette, an adult bookstore.
As a precaution, the fire department had Green Mountain Power shut off power to overhead electric lines that run across Bridge Street, Wood said.
Train service on the train tracks that run directly behind the burning building was suspended.
Wood said the fire was under control just after 8 p.m., although firefighters continued to pour ``copious amounts'' of water on some remaining flames.
He said that the firefighters did not fight the fire from the inside of the building. ``We don't want to risk anybody's life or injury for a building,'' that cannot be saved, Wood said.
The firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to nearby buildings by creating a trench cut in the western end of the building. The technique required cutting a gap of several feet in the burning building's roof.
``It keeps the fire from spreading into the roof of the Polka Dot diner,'' which is a restaurant adjacent to the burning building, Wood said.
John Ashley, who lives in the Vermonter, a boarding house nearby, said he was at home at about 6:30 p.m. when he saw smoke drifting up in the sky. About 15 minutes later he came down to the street and watched as firefighters began to break the windows of the WRAP.
``When I came down here, there were flames shooting out the roof,'' he said as he stood across the street from the burning building. ``They were adding water to it pretty quick.''
Among the first to notice the smoke was Chris Moye, a dishwasher at Como Va, a restaurant directly across the street from the Polka Dot. He reported it to his boss, and employees quickly called the fire department, said the restaurant's co-owner Howard Haywood.
As firefighters put out the fire, the staff of Como Va watched from the warmth of the empty dining room.
``We tried to stay open. We didn't realize that it was that bad,'' said Haywood.
