Chatham Standard: Firefighters Battle Blaze At Private Club “The Pit”
Wednesday Evening,, Dec 30TH, 2325 West Zone Defense Firefighters are current engaged in fierce battle to extinguish an already contained structure fire in the exclusive “combat club” known as The Pit.
Initial eyewitness reports conflict as to whether other than staff were still inside the club at the time of the fire, with some reports describing a large private charity event hosted by the Irish American social group the Ancient Order of Hibernians, while other reports from staff inside the building at the time of the fire indicate that the gathering was safely evacuated before the fire spread throughout the buildings basement area.
The Pit, a private club and fight arena, has a decades-long storied history of hosting everything from boxing matches to sword fights, and also has its fair share of unlicensed fights taking place on the premises. It is not known if the Ancient Order of Hibernians were hosting a pre-New Years Eve fight event at the time of the fire.
Initial reports seem to indicate the fire was started by some sort of internal generator malfunction, but that has not been confirmed by West Zone Defense Fire Fighters. Staff were safely evacuated from the building by firefighters, and the search for guests will continue as the night progresses.