Fire damages Midtown’s Ignite Sign Museum, destroying decades of Tucson history

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A weekend fire tore through one of Tucson’s most colorful landmarks, leaving behind charred memories and uncertainty about the future of the Ignite Sign Art Museum.

Tucson Fire Department crews were dispatched to the museum near Olsen Avenue and 13th Street just before 10:45 p.m. Saturday night after flames were reported on the roof of a nearby auto glass shop. Firefighters battled the blaze for more than an hour before declaring it under control around midnight.

JOEL FOSTER - KGUN9

Museum co-owner Jude Cook woke up Sunday morning to the devastating news.

“I got a message this morning from a friend that said they were sorry about the fire at Ignite, and I didn’t know anything about it,” Cook said. “Apparently, from somebody we talked to, I think it was noticed at about 10:30 last night.”

The fire destroyed much of the museum’s smaller collection, items Cook says he’s spent more than 50 years gathering from businesses across Tucson’s past.

“It looks like it pretty much took out the small stuff of my collection,” Cook said. “That stuff is going to be hard to replace.”

Cook estimates that about half of the museum’s more than 1,000 artifacts, including neon signs, memorabilia, and other pieces of local history, were damaged or lost.

Despite the loss, some of the larger pieces stored in the warehouse survived.

“The large stuff in the warehouse is in pretty good shape,” Cook said. “It’s dirty, but the large part of the collection looks like it’s salvageable.”

As investigators work to determine the cause of the fire, Cook says he’s still processing the extent of the damage.

“I’m probably a little bit in shock,” he admitted. “They’re not priceless, but they’re kind of irreplaceable. We’ll never get them back again.”

The Ignite Sign Art Museum has become a beloved piece of Tucson’s cultural landscape since it opened in 2017, preserving the glowing neon icons that once lit up the city’s streets and businesses.

Cook says he plans to rebuild, but he’s unsure how long that process will take. For now, he’s working with the city’s development services department to assess the structure and determine what can be restored.