CATONSVILLE, Md — A Catonsville business on fire, shutting down Route 40 and upsetting an entire community.
Fire officials are still working on determining what caused the fire.
RELATED: Three firefighters treated for heat exhaustion at Loafers Sports Bar fire
The owner of Loafers Bar and Grille was extremely upset looking at his business that's been open for 20 years up in smoke. He said there was so much heart and soul in that building.
"It's a very popular spot, probably most popular spot on Route 40," said Steven Wise, a regular who lives in Woodlawn. "I’ve never seen this type of activity before and to see this quality business to have this type of incident happen it’s shocking."
Fire officials said they got the call about the fire from the Howard County Fire Marshal who saw smoke coming from the building when he was driving by. They believe the fire started upstairs so when they got on scene, they tried to make an aggressive attack inside.
"That didn’t prove successful. They thought they were able to get it under control but not due to lots of material on the second floor," said Baltimore County Fire Specialist Nicholas Tyson.
He said once the firefighters felt like the fire was getting away from them that's when they called for a second alarm and with no improvements, a third alarm. That's when he said they evacuated the building and went for a defensive attack, "which means they were fighting the fire from outside."
Three firefighters suffered heat exhaustion but are expected to be okay. Also, 15 goldfish were rescued from inside.
As for Loafers, they're going to be out of business for a while at one of their busiest times.
"Friday, Saturday night it’s very full of people. This is the time of year, football season is packed so hopefully they can get the business back up and running soon," Wise said.
The owner said they plan on rebuilding, they will definitely be coming back.
He said when they do they will still have great quality service and foot but plan on kicking it up a notch for customers.
