For the third time in barely four months, a Tops Bar-B-Q restaurant has caught fire.

This time, a blaze erupted at the location at 3970 Rhodes Ave. near Getwell Road, around 4 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 20. No one was in the building at the time of the fire; the restaurant had closed at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, due to winter weather.

Another Tops Bar-B-Q location catches fire

Tops CEO Randy Hough did not respond to a request for comment but placed the blame on “mechanical issues” in a statement. 

“As the safety and security of employees, customers and communities is our top priority, we are thankful to report that no one was in the building at the time or injured in the fire this morning at Tops on Rhodes Avenue. We appreciate the work by the Memphis Fire Department to extinguish the fire, which we believe was caused by mechanical issues,” Hough said. 

“At this time, the Rhodes location will be closed until repairs can be completed. We are working to determine the extent of the damage and a plan for repairs and reopening.”

The first recent Tops fire happened early on the morning of Oct. 17 at the location at 3353 Summer Ave. An employee was inside when the fire started but escaped with no injuries. That blaze was also blamed on mechanical trouble, and the location has not reopened yet.

The second fire broke out on the morning of Nov. 7 at the Frayser location at 3023 Thomas St. No one was injured in that fire, and it was also blamed on mechanical problems.

Fire shuts down Summer Avenue Tops Bar-B-Q

That location also has not reopened, meaning that three of the 13 Tops locations in Memphis have caught fire and shut down in the past four months.