Area Business Closed After Fire

The Trout Club is closed for renovations following a fire this weekend.

The call came in just before 6 a.m Saturday morning. Newark Fire Captain Doug Vermaaten said the blaze began in the garage and spread to the lounge. It only took about 20 minutes to contain.

There were no occupants present that night. Owner of the Trout Club Brent Dewey said the fire left more damage than he originally believed. With most fire damage on the side of the building and water and smoke damage throughout.

The club is closed for the foreseeable future due to the extensive damage. Many holiday parties have been canceled but Dewey is working to see the good and help his employees through this time of hardship.

"At this point it’s indefinite. We’ve had to give away all our Christmas parties to other people around the community. We had about 85 to 100 people coming to Thanksgiving this Thursday so, letting those people know that we’re not going to be open was important. We did give all of our food away to the Salvation Army yesterday so that was a good thing that came out of this. We got quite a few displaced workers right now that we’re going to try to work with the insurance to maybe see if they’ll let us do some of the cleaning and relocation of the good items to a warehouse and try to get those people some work at the holidays that they need, " said Dewey.

The incident remains under investigation. The Newark Fire Department was assisted by Hanover, Newton, and Licking Township Fire Departments.