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$50,000 damage to movie theater

BY MEG FOX

If was the early morning, bad news knock on the dorr that everyone dreads.

"They knocked on my door, woke me up, and asked for the keys to the theater because it was on fire," said Mt. Burney Theater owner Donna Sylvester, as she stood on the snow-dampened pavement Monday, watching firefighters hack away at the side of her restored building.

By mid-morning, most of the 25 volunteer firefighters had gone home and Sylvester was cleaning up and planning to open her movie theater for an evening show.

A passerby noticed smoke streaming from the 63-year-old building and reported the fire to the CHP at 6:35 a.m.

Burney Fire Chief Bob May estimated damage at about $50,000.

The fire burned in a parapet wall above the theater's snack bar, but there was minimal smoke and water damage in the theater and it didn't smell like smoke, May said.

Firefighters tore down an exterior section on the side of the building to try to get to the source and determine the cause. May said he suspects the cause was electrical and related to the pink neon lights lining the front of the building.

In addition to two engines and an ambulance from the Burney Fire Protection District, where Sylvester serves as a fire commissioner, the Cassel and Hat Creek volunteer fire companies and an engine from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection responded.

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