Six-Alarm Fire Causes Virginia Roy Rogers Restaurant Roof To Collapse

Mark Tooley / Twitter

Roy Rogers has been a familiar name for many years, whether it is because of the singer/actor himself, the cherry cola drink, or his namesake restaurant.

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The Roy Rogers restaurant, which adopted the King of Cowboys’ name in 1968, is known for their hamburgers, roast beef sandwiches, and fried chicken.

Just after midnight on Monday (Oct 21), Virginia’s Fairfax County Fire and Rescue was called and a fire was reported in a strip mall on the 1500 block of Belle View Blvd. A Roy Rogers Restaurant is located in said strip mall.

A tweet from Fairfax Fire and Rescue say that “units arrived to find heavy smoke from rear of building.”

It eventually escalated to a sixth-alarm fire. According to WUSA9, “Fifty-six unites responded to the scene, officials said, including aid from Arlington County, Alexandria City, Fort Belvoir and MWAA fire crews. Over 100 firefighters responded to the scene.”

According to NBC Washington Assignment Editor Tom Lynch, the Roy Rogers Restaurant in the shopping center looks to “have taken the bulk of the damage.” He also said most of the roof has collapsed.

Patch reports that more than 20 businesses were damaged, and NBC’s Justin Finch, who was on the scene, corroborates.

The restaurant chain’s official Twitter tweeted the following message:

One firefighter was injured and the fire has been contained. It’s not clear where the fire actually started and what the cause was.