The Nov. 19 fire that gutted Richmond’s landmark Lone Star Saloon doesn’t appear to have been intentionally set, Richmond Fire Chief Stephen Noto said Wednesday.
The popular Richmond bar and music venue, run for decades in a historic 120-year-old building at 102 and 106 S. Third St., was heavily damaged in the fire.
Fire fighters from Richmond, Rosenberg, Pecan Grove, Missouri City and Sugar Land fought the blaze early that morning.
While no one was hurt, damage to the saloon’s buildings, which are joined by an interior brick wall, was extensive, and estimated at close to a half-million dollars.
Investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Fort Bend County Fire Marshal’s office joined the Richmond Fire Department’s probe of the cause of the fire.
With that investigation “very close to being officially over,” Noto said Wednesday, “nothing has been found to indicate it was intentionally set.”
However, the chief added there was some electrical equipment in the area near where the fire may have originated. He identified that equipment as video-poker type machines, which apparently had recently been installed.
“We’re not officially saying that is what caused it,” Noto said.
He added that information from the investigation was turned over to insurance investigators.
Saloon owners Bill and Beverly Lindquist could not be reached for comment for this story.
