Theater Fire Gives Gospel Group a Scare

This could have been pretty ugly:

It was a real scare at the 160 year old Majestic Theatre in downtown Chillicothe.

A fire broke out in the stage area inside the theatre and firefighters say a hot lamp caught the stage curtain on fire. It was put out quickly but two people were treated for breathing in too much smoke.

A gospel singing group was performing at the time of the fire and many people got out safely. The Majestic Theatre was built in the mid 1800's and became a medical ward for injured Civil War soldiers stationed at nearby Camp Sherman.

The group was The Nelons, a family group I've worked with a number of times in Rockport, TX, and years ago here in the Los Angeles area. Three of the members were treated for smoke inhalation, but everybody's okay.

UPDATE:  Here's another report:

Officials say a fire during a gospel performance forced the evacuation of the historic Majestic Theater in Chillicothe (chi-li-KAH'-thee), Ohio.

The Chillicothe Gazette reports that a curtain caught fire Thursday night in the theater that dates to the 1850s.

Aaron Crisler, spokesman for Nashville, Tenn.-based gospel singers The Nelons, says the group had just begun its first song when a fire alarm sounded.

Crisler says Kelly Nelon Clark, her husband Jason Clark and daughter Amber Nelon Thompson credited members of the group Beyond the Ashes for helping them to escape. He says the three members of The Nelons, three singers from Beyond the Ashes and a member of their management team were treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation and released.

The Majestic Theater has hosted many legendary entertainers, including Laurel and Hardy, Milton Berle and Sophie Tucker.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.