By Kathryn Kennedy The Daily Reflector
Investigators with Greenville Fire-Rescue are looking into a suspicious fire that started early this morning at a former nightclub.
Club Gas, 507 N. Greene St., has not operated since May when the city's Board of Adjustment withdrew the special use permit needed to remain open. There was no one in the building when the fire started, Deputy Chief Sandy Harris said.
Firefighters responded to the call from a Pitt County Sheriff's Office deputy just before 5 a.m., he said. The seven units and more than 20 firefighters were confronted with heavy smoke and some smoke showing through the roof.
Harris said it took about an hour and a half to control the fire, but it was contained and no neighboring properties were in danger.
“There were multiple points of origin, so it was difficult to put out,” he said. “By the time the sun came up, (all Greenville stations) had worked a bit of it.”
The seemingly multiple origins make it a suspicious incident, Harris added.
Fire Marshall Gary Coggins and his staff were still investigating what exactly caused the fire mid-afternoon Sunday. The air still smelled strongly of burning wood and Greenville Police Department officers secured the parking lot.
Fire-Rescue Chief Mike Burton said damage to the facility is extensive.
Club Gas was formerly called Club Dynasty, then known for hosting a number of renown hip hop and R&B acts including rapper 50 Cent in 2003.
It was shut down this year because board members deemed it a health and safety hazard and detriment to public welfare — two of several criteria they use to determine an application's viability — despite testimony by the latest operator, Keith Frizzell.
The police department, fire-rescue, the building inspections department and the city's financial services office all spoke in opposition to the permit at that hearing.
