An overnight fire destroyed approximately 300-500 pieces from a more than 50-year-old collection at the Ignite Sign Art Museum on October 18th. After almost a week, owner Jude Cook might have an answer to what caused the blaze.
After a fire investigator’s visit, Cook suspects a 1930s ‘radio desk’ displayed as a prop started the fire.
“We were not using it, we think somebody turned it on while visiting the museum,” he said. “It’s not something that you know it’s on. We barely leave anything on when we leave.”
Today was the first day Cook actually looked around and checked what items disappeared in the flames. He said his single favorite piece became “toast.”
“Some losses are going to be harder than others,” he said. “If there was an upside to it, we didn’t lose all the big neon signs that are from Tucson and Southern Arizona. If we would’ve lost those, I'd pretty much have to say that we are done.”
Cook is currently working with a restoration company, hoping to get started with the cleaning process next week. To reopen, he will need to strip the museum’s walls and rearrange the interior.
“It will be bigger, better, and nicer than it was,” he said. “I hope we can turn it around in six months, but I might be optimistic.”
While he is still processing his loss, he is grateful for the community’s support.
“Our biggest push now is just staying visible,” he said, as he looked over his neon sign collection. “We really had outstanding support. I have spent this last week saying thank you to people more than anything.”
He says, in the future, 1930s radios will not be plugged at his museum.
