Shawnee's Ritz Theatre Damaged After Neighboring Fire

There was a massive fire Tuesday night right next to the historic Shawnee theatre. Video shows firefighters battling massive flames at a vacant building.

Shawnee fire department along with other crews, like ATF, are investigating the fire on Main Street. They're looking into how the fire started and if someone started the fire.

“Initially they started an offensive attack on the second floor but we're pushed out due to the fire load and went defensive,” Fire Chief Tony Wittman said.

Wittman said they got the fire knocked down around 3 a.m. Tuesday, but crews stayed on scene all night.

“We've been on scene just following up doing a cause and determination investigation on the fire now,” Wittman said.

Wittman said the fire started on the second floor of a vacant building. It shared a wall with the historic and recently renovated Ritz Theatre.

“The Ritz was built in 1897 and originally it was not a theatre in the basement was actually a morgue,” Shawnee Mayor Ed Bolt said.

While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, it could impact Halloween plans at the Ritz.

“We generally get probably about close to 20,000 people come down here for the trick or treating,” Bolt said.

State Representative Dell Kerbs said he's not sure what things will look like this year.

“We have just kind of wrapped up a lot of those renovations. We finished putting new seats in the theater approximately about two months ago,” Rep. Kerbs said.

There's some water and smoke damage.

“It's a little disheartening this morning when you get a phone call from the fire department at 4 o'clock needing to come down as we're dealing with an active fire,” Rep. Kerbs said.

He said the show must go on.

“We're going to fight to make sure the Ritz stays alive,” Rep. Kerbs said.

Right now, the main focus isn't on the burned building, but on their neighbor next door.

“There's actually windows on the inside that face that building's wall. We'll have an exposed wall on the eastside that hasn't seen sunlight for 100 years so we're kind of excited in that way it's also a little nerve racking, but we'll get there,” Rep. Kerbs said.