Massive fire destroys long-standing erotic club Baby Dolls in Fort Worth

FORT WORTH — A major fire destroyed a well-known erotic club in Fort Worth on Wednesday morning.

Baby Dolls, located on FM 157 near Trinity Boulevard, has been in operation for nearly 50 years.

According to the Fort Worth Fire Department, the emergency call came in around 9:10 a.m. and firefighters were on the scene five minutes later. It didn’t take long for the back wall of the club to collapse, followed by the roof.

While firefighters spent hours trying to put out the fire, huge flames and thick smoke could be seen coming from Baby Doll’s.

At one point, eight fire engines from the Fort Worth Fire Department and crews from the Euless Fire Department were on the scene.

When the fire broke out, the building was closed, so no one was inside at the time.

“There’s no telling why or how it happened. We’re going to investigate what happened,” said Kyle Clay of the Fort Worth Fire Department. “We’re just thankful that no one was hurt, none of our firefighters were hurt.”

Baby Dolls has been in business since 1978. It became a popular and well-known establishment when the city of Arlington made a concerted effort to crack down on topless clubs in the 1990s and early 2000s, resulting in nearly all of them going out of business.

Baby Dolls is located just outside the Arlington city limits in Fort Worth.

Firefighters believe the building is a total loss. A representative of the company that owns Baby Dolls told CBS News Texas that they plan to rebuild.