RICHARD STEPHENS / PVT
Beatty emergency crews were called out at approximately 3:30 a.m. Wednesday to find the front portion of the Beatty Club, formerly a service station, enveloped in flame. The response time was about five minutes and the fire was knocked down quickly. As the crew was finishing up, club owner Alpheus Bruton yelled out, "I want to thank you guys. This is the second time in 20 years the Beatty Fire Department has saved my bacon. The first time was in Death Valley." That portion of the club, which was a loss, housed the club's walk-in cooler. The main part of the club, next door, is a wood-frame building. Bruton suspected arson. "There was no one here, and you don't generally get spontaneous combustion at three in the morning," he said. He also said it appeared that someone had deliberately disconnected a water hose outside the building. He said he had been having "a lot of trouble the last couple of months," including vandalism that ranged from his dogs being let loose to things being stolen and the windows of his vehicle being broken out. The state fire marshal's office was called upon to investigate.
