Staff at the Ignite Sign Art Museum in Tucson are taking stock of the damage after a fire late Saturday night burned through the building.
On Monday, a wood plank blocked the entrance of the museum, and the pungent smell of smoke still hung in the air. Jude Cook and his wife founded the museum and operate it today.
He estimates some 500 of the roughly 1,300 items part of the museum’s collection were destroyed — including his favorite piece.
“It’s just a little backbar sign that says ‘Old Fitzgerald’s’ on it. I’ve only seen it one time, the one I’ve got. And it’s gone. I’ve got, you know, I have 60, 70 advertising clocks, and it took out a big swath of that,” Cook said.
Cook says a large collection of soda signs and advertising thermometers were also destroyed.
He first learned about the fire Sunday morning, when a friend texted him how sorry he was about the news, and thinks the fire burned most intensely in the back corner of the building — where several of the museum’s smaller items were housed.
“Some of it is really irreplaceable,” he said. “Some of the stuff I’ve only seen one time, and I’ve been collecting for 50 years.”
A backdoor in that area was coated in black soot, and a collection of metal street signs just inside were badly charred. Pieces of insulation that had fallen from the ceiling laid on the floor.
Cook said the larger neon signs, including some specific to Tucson, remain intact, though some neon signage became warped due to the fire’s high temperature. He estimates about half the building is badly burned and the other half sustained smoke damage.
He thinks it’ll take at least six months to get back in working order.
Cook suspects the fire is likely the result of an electrical issue inside the building, which he says was built in the 1980s, though he hasn’t heard yet from the Tucson Fire Department.
In a Facebook post, the Tucson Fire Department said two crews were sent to the building about 10:45 p.m. Saturday and crews started fighting the blaze inside before moving outside due to its high heat.
A cause of the fire has yet not been announced.
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