Electrical fire causes no injuries, but $10,000 in damage

An electrical fire broke out inside Plan B nightclub Tuesday morning (December 23) around 10:15 a.m. causing $10,000 damage and closed Williamson Street for approximately 30 minutes as Madison Fire Department crews from Fire Station #3 responded to the incident.

Two cleaning women discovered the fire when they entered the building, but initially thought it was smoke from a fog machine since it was located near the dance floor. Concrete contractors working next door on the Madison Sourdough expansion noticed smoke coming through the shared wall and responded with fire extinguishers after the smoke intensified blunting most of the fire’s advance according to MFD Spokeswoman Bernadette Galvez.

“The cause is a electrical fire…the exact source hasn’t been pinpointed,” Galvez said. “If those guys [the concrete workers] didn’t noticed that, that fire would have taken off.”

No flames were observed but smoke was emanating from the ceiling above the bar. When fire crews arrived they did pull down the ceiling and found some embers remaining put out the remainder of the fire. The building has a sprinkler system but it did not activate because the fire was above the sprinkler heads.

Fire equipment was parked in both directions on Willy from Plan B’s parking lot to Paterson street. Foam was observed on the sidewalk in front of the nightclub and the smell of burned materials was observed.

Plan B Owner Corey Gresen (Center) after a fire damaged the nightclub Tuesday December 23, 2014.

Plan B Owner Cory Gresen, who was on the scene, said he had no details about the fire or the extent of the damage when he initially spoke to WSB.

Madison Health Department would have to inspect the premises before the club could reopen since catered food and frozen pizza’s are sometimes served.

Plan B posted on it’s Facebook page that the club would be closed until further notice:

“Due to a fire early this morning Plan B will be closed until further notice. No one was hurt in the incident. Thank you for your understanding and sorry for any inconvenience.”

“Hopefully they [Plan B] will be open by the first of January and I’m sure they will be.” Galvez said.