Bear Creek Saloon Burns Down

More than 75 firefighters from several fire departments arrived to put out the fire. They arrived with about 30 percent of the building in flames, including the roof, according to The Advocate newspaper. 

The nearest fire hydrant was five miles away. Tanker trucks were called in to ferry water, according to fire marshal Butch Browning. Investigators were not able to examine the site the next day because the remains were still too hot.

“Right now, we don’t have anything to go on, just a lot of information we’re vetting through,” Browning said April 28. “We’re treating it as a crime scene and securing it thus far until we can determine the cause of the fire.”

Bear Creek Saloon has hosted everyone from Garth Brooks to Charlie Daniels to Blake Shelton over its 30-year history.

The blaze did not reach the adjacent Bear Creek Western Store. Nobody was in the building when it caught fire.

“They had a very large concert and there were a lot of people in that building, and if the fire had occurred earlier, it could have certainly been a different situation,” Browning said.