The clubhouse at Ray’s Creek Golf Course at 188 Stokesland Ave. in Danville burned down early Tuesday morning.
Danville firefighters responded at 1:45 a.m. to a call of a possible explosion and found the building engulfed in flames, according to a news release. The blaze took about four hours to extinguish, but the building sustained heavy fire damage on both levels.
No one was injured.
The Danville Fire Marshal’s Office is continuing to investigate the cause, but because of heavy debris inside the building, that investigation could take several days, a department news release stated.
Ray Pruitt, who owns Ray’s Creek Golf Course and Pool with his dad Merv Pruitt, said the business will continue.
Ray lives just around the corner from the golf course on Stokesland Avenue and heard the sirens, he said. He looked out his window, saw flames at the clubhouse and ran to the scene.
“It was absolutely amazing. It was a very, very intimidating sight to see that many flames and feel the heat and smell the smoke,” Ray said.
Yet, the golf course wasn’t touched and Pruitt said the golf course will keep business as usual. He made a temporary office and social room in the pool building.
Calls will be forwarded to his phone. Golf carts are still available.
Pruitt said he would build another building, but doesn’t know if the next one would be as large. The clubhouse was built in the 1950s in a different economic time, he said.
He described many of the longtime members as feeling “melancholy” about the fire.
“A lot of memories are there that were generated with their families and wives,” he explained.
A core group of members came every morning and would socialize. Pruitt expects they’ll continue coming.
“It’s just a building,” Pruitt said. “The camaraderie and the friendship and the spirit will carry on in the people.”
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