Local BBQ icon shut down after fire seriously damages building

MARTIN, Tenn. — One local landmark is closed after a fire claimed the majority of the building earlier this week.

Fire officials say the blaze at Damron’s Barbecue and Meat Company appears to have begun in the restaurant’s pit area and that no outside investigation is needed.

The restaurant has been closed since and the community is heartbroken that the popular spot is shut down.

It’s a much different atmosphere than normal inside Martin’s most famous barbeque icon.

For more than four decades, Damron’s BBQ and Meat Company has served thousands of loyal customers. Some, like James Benton Bell, more than once a day.

“Most of the time two times a day, you know, morning and sometimes lunch, depending on when I could get away,” Bell said.

Clay Simmons, the current owner, has worked at the BBQ joint off and on since he was 15, and on Tuesday night he couldn’t believe the phone call he received.

“I didn’t believe it at first because I had left here 30 minus prior to when I got the call, and when I left here everything was fine,” Simmons said.

The business was closed at the time of the fire, and no adjacent businesses were damaged despite being less than six feet away, according to Martin Fire Department Chief Jamie Summers.

Summers said the pit area, a nearby room and the roof sustained most of the fire damage. The restaurant area also sustained smoke and water damage.

The call came in around 6:45 p.m., and the department responded with 19 firefighters and two pumper trucks, a ladder truck and a support vehicle, according to Summers.

“There’s no telling how many people I’ve talked to that are just concerned, you know, what’s happened and what’s going to happen next,” Simmons said. “I don’t really have an answer for them because I don’t know what is going to happen next.”

Simmons is working with his insurance agency to determine whether the building can be saved.