Published: September 02, 2009 07:43 am      

An institution since 1920s

Fire destroys Paint Lick diner

PAINT LICK — A Monday night fire that burned and then smoldered until early Tuesday morning destroyed Rick’s Diner, a popular gathering place in this village that straddles the Madison-Garrard County Line.

Investigators who sifted through the ruins Tuesday afternoon said it was too early to pinpoint a cause of the fire, first reported at 9:42 p.m.

Doug Silvers of the state fire marshal’s office and Jim Buscher of Matrix, which investigates for insurance companies, joined Dean Vencill, assistant chief of the Cartersville/Paint Lick Volunteer Fire Department as he probed the remains.

The two-story concrete-block structure, that also includes a basement, was gutted, but remained standing. The fire did not affect any contiguous or nearby buildings.

An apartment in the structure’s upper story was under renovation and unoccupied, said Vencill, who also is a captain with the Richmond Fire Department.

Volunteers from the Cartersville/Paint Lick department, which has a station across the road from the diner, were on the scene almost immediately, Vencill said. Some of the volunteers live close by, he said.

The fire sent flames above the roof only briefly, Vencill said. The fire appeared to be under control three times, but hot spots kept flaring up until 1:30 a.m., when other departments that provided assistance were released.

The Cartersville/Paint Lick department did not clear the scene until 2:46 a.m.

Seven other department sent units to fire, Vencill said. They included the Berea, Madison County, Garrard County and Lancaster fire departments, plus volunteer companies from Kirksville, Buckeye and Camp Dick Robinson.

About 50 firefighting personnel were on the scene on one point.

Most of the other departments sent tanker trucks and crews, except Lancaster’s, which sent a ladder truck.

“Paint Lick had two good fire hydrants near the scene, but the ladder truck took most of their water,” Vencill said.

Vencill said the Paint Lick volunteers called for assistance in accordance with a plan he had devised if a major fire broke out in the tight cluster of buildings that form the central core of the historic community.

Following the plan kept the fire from spreading, he said.

The business owner, Rick Singleton, a civilian employee of the United States military, is in Japan, Vencill said. The business was operated by relatives and employees.

Singleton’s mother, Judy Brummett, and two sisters, operated the business, Brummett said.

“I talked to Rick this morning about 5 o’clock,” she said. “He called after one of his sisters e-mailed him. He was pretty down in the dumps and undecided about whether he would try to rebuild.”

The location has been home to a restaurant and a variety of other businesses since the early 1920s, said Richmond Register correspondent Katie Rollins.

“It has been a feed store, a grocery store and a garage, but always a restaurant,” she said.

A former owner, Tom Clark, called it Uncle Tom’s Diner.

“It was famous for its fried rabbit,” Rollins said.

The diner was always packed for breakfast and lunch, said Rollins, who worked there for seven years in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Farmers would crowd the eatery every morning before going to work, she said.

“They would stay until the dew dried on the hay,” Rollins said.

So many tall tales were told by diner patrons that one front table became known as “The Liars Table.”

Brummett said some frequent patrons had told her their wives also were upset about the fire.

“That’s because they’ll have to start cooking breakfast,” she said.

“I hope this community pulls together and helps rebuild the diner,” Rollins said. “Farmers who like to eat there could volunteer their labor. Paint Lick just can’t go without a restaurant.”

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.