Last Friday Zaxby’s on Roan Street went up in flames. The cause of the fire is believed to be an electrical fire that started in a storage room toward the rear of the building.
“Maybe a light fixture or something like that … shorted out,” said Johnson City Operations Chief Roger Teinert. “They’re not for sure yet.” There were no injuries.
“At 3:30 a.m. they had a burglar alarm, but they didn’t respond. They called the owner and he didn’t want anybody to respond because he had been having trouble with his alarm system,” Teinert said.
Teinert believes the burglar alarm was activated by motion the fire caused inside the structure. The owner, Gary May, was unable to comment.
Firemen worked for three hours to make sure the fire was under control. There were no traffic problems with the fire since it occurred in the middle of the night.
“People driving down the road noticed the flames shooting out of the top of the building at 3 a.m.,” Teinert said.
“People stop by and drive around to look and see if it is still open,” said student James Grindstaff, who works at Office Depot, close to Zaxby’s.
Teinert said he believes this fire was worse than the one at Taco Bell last Monday. “I’d say at least a month or two probably until they get it running again.”
The Johnson City Fire Department does not suspect a link between the two fires, Teinert said.
“(Taco Bell) was the big buzz on campus,” said freshman Andrew Monaco. “As for Zaxby’s, I didn’t even know it was here but I wish I did before it caught fire.”
Another Zaxby’s is located at 1823 W. State of Franklin Rd. near campus.

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