BUNNELL, Fla. – A Sunday night fire in Bunnell caused extensive damage to the Flagler Playhouse, according to Flagler County Fire Rescue.
Crews were called to the theater along East Moody Boulevard around 10 p.m., according to Fire Chief Michael Tucker. Video from the scene shows the fire tearing through the roof of the building.
Firefighters attempted to aggressively knock down the fire, but the flames proved too intense, the chief said.
“It’s pretty extensive. The theater area and some of the storage area not repairable, but we were successful in saving some of the office space and some of the other parts of the building as well,” Tucker said.
It took crews several hours to bring the fire down to a manageable size, firefighters said.
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Preston Zepp, preservation specialist with the Flagler Historical Society, said it’s been “the center of the community for a long time.”
“They’ve been doing plays here a lot. It’s one of the pieces of culture that we’ve lost here in Bunnell,” Zepp said.
Zepp said the town is tight-knit and that there’s going to be a lot of sadness.
“Just seeing another piece of our culture and history leave is horrible,” Zepp said.
Crews said the building was built in the 1950s and had been remodeled several times. The chief added that multiple ceilings and a tin roof made dousing the flames more difficult.
“It’s definitely iconic. The mayor of the town told me tonight that she was married in this building. So it has a lot of sentimental value for a lot of people. So, it’s definitely sad that it turned out this way, but we made a strong attack and our best effort, but unfortunately we weren’t successful this time,” Tucker said.
The state fire marshal will now investigate the cause of the fire, though the chief said he does not believe it to be suspicious.
According to the theater’s website, the building formerly housed a Baptist church before the theater purchased it in 2006.
The theater was set to debut a new production of “The Play That Goes Wrong” on Friday, Nov. 3.
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