Music Club Turns Into ‘Firebox’; 1 Man Dead

Flames raced through a popular Anaheim entertainment club early Sunday, leaving one man dead and creating an inferno that kept firefighters from entering the building for nearly an hour, authorities said.

The fire was reported at 8:14 a.m. at Big John’s Billiards and Pizza, a popular venue for Orange County bands, in the 800 block of East Orangethorpe Avenue. It had been one of only two remaining clubs in Orange County that regularly booked local bands playing original music.

Anaheim police identified the body as that of Steve Scott Ayotte, 27, of Anaheim, who they said was an employee at the club. A spokesman with the coroner’s office said Sunday that an autopsy would be conducted today to determine the cause of death.

Moments after firefighters arrived at the scene, the thin, plywood roof of the 12,000-square-foot building collapsed, sending flames and thick clouds of smoke into the air. But the building’s six-inch-thick concrete block walls remained standing, creating a “firebox of intense heat,” Anaheim Fire Capt. Randy Goldsmith said.

“The thick concrete walls hold all of the heat inside, and it is a very difficult building to fight a fire in,” Goldsmith said. “The fallen roof adds more fuel to the fire, making it almost impossible to gain entry to fight the fire from inside.”

Because of the extreme heat produced by the fire, about 48 firefighters, including three units from the Fullerton Fire Department, were not able to contain the blaze until about 10 a.m., fire officials said.

When club owner Gary Chopic arrived at the fire scene, he told fire officials that a car parked outside the building was that of an employee who occasionally slept on the premises, Anaheim public information officer Sheri Erlewine said. Another car was identified as that of a girlfriend of the employee, Erlewine said.

Once firefighters were able to get in, they found Ayotte’s body in the smoldering debris. No other bodies were found, however, fire officials said.

Chopic said it was not the club’s policy to allow employees to sleep on the premises. “When we close the club at 2 a.m., everyone is supposed to be out. If someone were sleeping here, it was without permission.”

Chopic said Sunday’s fire was the first during the nearly 10 years he has owned the building.

The cavernous club, which can hold up to 800 people, had been scheduled to open its pool hall and restaurant less than two hours after the fire erupted. The Fire Department first received reports of smoke billowing from the roof on the 911 emergency number, apparently from passers-by, Erlewine said.

The smoke and heat grew so intense that train service on the Santa Fe Railroad tracks only a few yards from the building was interrupted briefly, delaying at least one Amtrak train, Erlewine said.

Cause of the fire has not been determined, but arson investigators were inspecting the gutted building Sunday as a standard procedure, fire officials said. A preliminary estimate of structure damage was set at $300,000, Goldsmith said. But the estimated loss of the building’s contents, which included 40 pool tables and video arcade and restaurant equipment, had not been determined.

The club is in a light industrial area of north Anaheim, surrounded on three sides by the City of Fullerton. No other buildings were threatened by the blaze, authorities said.

Big John’s owner had begun experimenting with presentations of live, original music at the club less than two years ago.

Gary Folgner, owner of the Coach House, a concert club that books national acts in San Juan Capistrano, said of Sunday’s fire at Big John’s: “This is really going to hurt local music more than anything. I think local bands are just about out of luck right now. . . .

“Every time something like this happens, it hurts because there hasn’t been anywhere else to go.”

Barbara Forrello, mother of one of the musicians who performed at Big John’s on Saturday night, said the club had added energy to the local music scene.

“We were just there last night. I really enjoy it,” she said. “It’s a cultural experience to be where you can hear live music. . . . Now where am I going to go?”

Times staff writer Randy Lewis contributed to this story.