A fire broke out early Friday morning in the Portuguese American Citizens Club on Narragansett Avenue. According to Fire Chief Jim Bryer, firefighters had to first find the fire – which was located inside a wall between the men’s bathroom and the boiler room – and then destroy the wall to get to it. PHOTO BY ANDREA VON HOHENLEITEN A fire broke out in the Portuguese American Citizens Club early Friday morning, but a functional fire alarm in the closeddown restaurant triggered a hasty response from the Jamestown Fire Department, which worked into the early morning hours to find and contain the blaze.

“It could have been serious,” said Fire Chief Jim Bryer. “Luckily, the PAC has a fire alarm system that works.”

At 12:44 a.m. on Jan. 20, a fire that started in the wall between the men’s room and the furnace room activated the fire alarm, which in turn sounded the town’s emergency horn. About 30 firefighters responded. According to Bryer, finding the fire was more difficult than extinguishing it.

“When we got there, trying to locate the fire was tricky,” said Bryer. “It started in between the walls, so it took a little while to find it. It was in a spot that wasn’t accessible.”

Bryer said that firefighters had to get behind the wall to get to the blaze. “When we located the fire, we had to tear down the wall,” he said. “There wasn’t too much damage – the wall and some piping in the bathroom. We just didn’t want the fire to get through to the outside. It never got to the outside of the building, so it was pretty much contained.”

The PAC Club closed its doors in December. Bryer said that new owners are currently in the process of renovating the building.