- Tucson Fire Department
Last night, not long after revelers finished ringing in 2013, a historic building in downtown Tucson caught fire in a blaze that dispatched two alarms and more than 40 firefighters.
According to a press release from the Tucson Fire Department, the building that sits on the west end of the 100 East Congress block caught fire around 3:30 a.m. Crews on the scene determined that the fire was in the building’s attic space and, after finding no one inside, moved to fight the blaze from outside the building.
After ladder trucks extinguished most of the fire, crews moved in to extinguish the rest of the blaze, finding that multiple A/C units had fallen throughout the roof. The fire’s total damages, cause and origins have yet to be determined, though the building is said to have suffered extensively.
This article appears in Dec 27, 2012 – Jan 2, 2013.
The Parthenon is “historic”. Wig-O-Rama is just old. But I am sad to see any family owned business suffer…
boo hoo.
Wig-O-Rama served many cancer victims in the fight…sad.
Im sure they are insured and hopefully reopen this location or other locations to keep serving the community, especially Cancer victims.
wow. lots of haters on here..pia alicia’s photo on here says it all.
Just another “symptom” of the death of old downtown…I find it suspicious and coincidental, considering this was one of the last hold-outs, which was historic, and for many, a meaningful site.
This ‘historic’ building was decent looking before those ghastly remodels. Now it is just plug ugly and ready for the wrecking ball.
It will be interesting to see if this turns out to be arson.
I doubt Wig O Rama owned the building. Like many businesses today, they probably dropped their insurance a long time ago.
I hope whoever the owner is will rebuild instead of letting it be an eyesore.
perfect day for an insurance fire!
The Wig O Rama building DID NOT BURN!!! The Grill is completely gone – the only thing standing is the front. Wig O Rama is still standing…for now. I just walked by it.
Ditto what Emmy said, as of early this (Thu 03d) afternoon only the front of Grill was still standing, the entire back was gone (I don’t know how much came down in the fire or in the subsequent demolition) when I went to pay my respects. Wig-O-Rama looked, from the outside, like it didn’t suffer too much although there’s pro’ly smoke damage. Although Grill has been said (by many) to have declined in its later years, it’s still a shame they are gone and now there is no space for someone to open a similar venue to carry on the best of Grill’s legacy (I really liked being able to get beer with my pancakes and bottomless coffee for dinner, where else in town can you do that at a reasonable price?). Sic transit gloria mundi.
The building was asbestos ridden..would have cost a shitload to remodel.. Mysteriously burns and suddenly most is demolished a day or so later to destroy evidence… It’s super shady, and proper asbestos removal was NOT implemented during demo.. I look forward to hearing more about what investigations reveal… 🙂