A Sad Day Once Again

Not only has my high school burned down, but now the pool I grew up in....sad days

GIBSONVILLE — The clubhouse at the Gibsonville Swim and Racquet Club was destroyed by fire Tuesday morning.

A neighbor called 911 at about 5:04 a.m. to report the blaze on Dick Street, which is a dead-end road, said Gibsonville Fire Assistant Chief Glenn Martin.

When Gibsonville Fire Department arrived at the business, the roof was fully engulfed in fire and the gate was locked with a chain.

“We had to cut the chain to get in the gate,” Martin said. “By the time we cut the chain, the roof fell in.”

The clubhouse, which housed the snack bar, restrooms, and locker rooms, was located near the pool. It took firefighters about 20 minutes to get the fire under control. Two walls in the brick building had to be knocked down.

Investigators aren’t sure when the fire started, but it is considered accidental.

“It appears that it started in the roof, and it may be an electrical type thing,” Martin said. “The building is so far gone. We can’t put our finger on exactly what caused it. We tried to rule out everything else.”

Martin estimated monetary damages to be about $150,000.

No one was injured and because it happened early in the morning, heat wasn’t a factor for the firefighters battling the flames.

“It was dark when we first got out there but as the sun came up on us and started to shine, we were starting to warm up,” Martin said. “If this thing had come at lunch time, we would have been in trouble as far as the heat.”

The clubhouse was built in 1963. Firefighters never entered the building because the roof collapsed.

“There was nothing we could do really,” Martin said. “It was already gone.”

Firefighters from Whitsett Fire Department as well as station 28 in Frieden and squad 50 in Guilford County assisted Gibsonville.

The clubhouse and pool will be closed indefinitely, Martin said.