West Dundee extinguishes indoor fire performances

You can still get a flaming saganaki in West Dundee, but don’t expect any flames at the next electric dance music show at Rookies Rochaus.

West Dundee trustees recently unanimously approved a change to the village’s building code to prohibit indoor fire performances. The move comes after concerns were raised about downtown businesses hosting performances featuring fire rings, fire jugglers and fire breathers.

In many instances, the village became aware of the performances after the fact through videos posted to social media.

“It’s kind of scary to watch people juggling things on fire or breathing fire toward the ceiling, especially in an establishment that has a lower ceiling height,” said Thomas Moszczynski, the village’s community development director and building official.

He noted the village’s building code did allow for fire performances. But staff recommended a change to the code to limit the risk to historic downtown buildings, some of which hosted the fire performances, and those attending the shows.

“We determined the entertainment value does not outweigh the risks that these sorts of shows have,” Moszczynski said.

He said he was aware of videos of fire performers at Rookies Rochaus and Bamboozels. In one social media video, a woman on stage can be seen twirling fire rings during an EDM show at Rookies Rochaus. Showgoers are not near the stage, and the woman never tosses anything in the air.

Rookies Rochaus manager Bob Cozza said the change in the ordinance will not affect future shows and that the music venue only had fire as an added entertainment feature in two or three of its shows last summer.

“This has no effect on our business at all,” said Bob Karas, one of the owners of Karas Restaurant Group, which took over the Rochaus about a year ago. Karas’ group also owns the Village Squire, Rookies and Old Republic.

Moszczynski said he is not aware of any injuries from any of the fire performances at local establishments. He added the building code change will not affect restaurants that serve items such as saganaki or special desserts with sparklers. The change also does not affect outdoor performances.