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Temple firefighters responded to a fire alarm around 2:40 a.m. at Action World Bowl Center at 22515 SE HK Dodgen Loop.
Temple Fire and Rescue responded with five engines, one ladder truck, the fire incident commander and three support units.
With total resources stretched, fire coverage for the rest of the city was provided by one Temple engine and one fire engine provided by Belton.
“That is not to say that a truck would not have been pulled out of here (Action World) if needed,” said Thomas Pechal, Temple Fire Department Public Education and Temple Fire Department spokesman.
By 4:15 a.m. Sunday, the fire was contained.
Fire investigators were on the scene Sunday and were expected to continue their work today, according to Pechal.
“Total damage is unknown at this time, however, there is a lot of structural damage,” Pechal said.
Mike Newsom, a Temple resident, said he was devastated by the news.
“I don’t know what I am going to do,” Newsom said. “I have bowled for years, I live by myself and have friends there - the staff and other bowlers are like my family, I just don’t know what to do.”
Owner Cyndi Dykes of Temple drove past the building this morning.
“We cannot enter the building, we have to get a structural engineer out there before anybody is allowed in the building,” Dykes said.
“We don’t know what we’ve got left, the bowling lanes are new, we only finished putting them in on the first of the year.
“We built that bowling center in 1977, and my husband and I built it together, and built up the business together. He is gone now so I have been running it by myself with my employees, a lot of help from my employees,” she said.
It is unknown whether the building will be rebuilt at this stage.
“It depends on what kind of damage has been done,” Dykes said, “We just don’t know at the moment.”
tcooper@temple-telegram.com