Henderson community mourns loss of Bell’s Drive In following fire

April 7, 2025

Ryan Hodges,

HENDERSON, Tenn. — Some sad news out of the city of Henderson as a beloved restaurant caught fire.

It was in the early hours of Monday morning when we received a call from some of our WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News tipsters of a fire at the Bell’s Drive In in downtown Henderson.

Bell’s is not just another random building or another random restaurant in Henderson. When you think of the town, you think of Bell’s. Mayor Terry Bell told us a little bit more about that.

“It’s just the heart and soul of Henderson. When people come to town they want to know where’s Bell’s Drive-in. We want to get a burger. It’s just a sad day. We’ve lost this icon of Henderson. It’s just part of our heart and soul and our tradition,” said Mayor Bell.

Since it is still early, there is a lot of information that cannot be released at the moment. However, we were able to talk to the assistant fire chief to learn about what we can know.

“We were toned out to a working structure fire at 3:41 a.m. this morning. City units arrived and we discovered Bell’s Drive In was on fire. We got to work,” said Chase Moore, assistant fire chief for the Henderson Fire Department.

We were able to talk to one local resident who said that this is just a sad time and is heartbreaking for the community.

“We don’t know what we’re going to do without it. We’re going to have to go someplace else. I don’t know where. This was just the place to be,” said Wilma Howard Mallard, resident.

There’s some important information that does not need to be forgotten regarding this story. There is a residential house just on the other side of Bell’s Drive In. You can see some of the vinyl has been melted because of how hot the flames were. The fire department was able to control the fire and stop it before it caused anymore damage to that family’s home.