The owner of the Cancun Cantina, a popular Anne Arundel County nightclub, hopes to reopen by Feb. 1 after a fire in a second-floor storeroom heavily damaged the building.
Anne Arundel County fire investigators said the three-alarm blaze on Dec. 2 was intentionally set. The fire caused $1.5 million in damage, mostly from smoke and water, and forced a number of holiday events to relocate.
“We had about 24 events booked ? lots of Christmas parties on top of the day-to-day business,” said Tony Toskov, the club?s owner. “Our goal is to rebuild as fast as we can and get our employees back to work.”
The Cancun Cantina on Old Telegraph Road in Hanover has been a busy entertainment venue for 14 years, according to the owner.
Fire officials said the arson in this case would be a felony charge, carrying a maximum punishment of 30 years in jail and $50,000 in fines.
Toskov praised the firefighters for their dedication to saving his property even though no lives were threatened.
“I?ve never seen an organization work so well in my entire life,” he said. “They are definitely underestimated. Think about it ? there were no people inside the building and they were in there trying to fight the fire.”
Toskov had installed a new Voice-Evac addressable fire alarm system three months earlier that was credited with helping the staff evacuate about 240 people safely. One firefighter was treated for first- and second-degree burns to his ears.
There have been 138 confirmed arsons in the county so far this year, with two injuries, a fire department spokesman said.
