‘Cleveland Metroparks Zoo continues upgrading RainForest exhibit despite minimal damage from fire’

Renovation work on the RainForest building at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is back in progress after being temporarily stopped due to a fire that broke out, leading to the evacuation of all animals.

3News reporter Kaitor Kay interviewed the Zoo’s Executive Director, Dr. Chris Kuhar, on Thursday. Dr. Kuhar mentioned that they are currently evaluating the extent of the damage caused by the incident, and surprisingly, the damage isn’t as severe as it may have seemed.

“So there were flames on the building, and it was scary, but we were able to manage that,” Kuhar said.

Kuhar said the fire started a little after 2 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon.

The construction team that was in the process of deconstructing the old RainForest exhibit were using welding torches to cut metal off of the building, which created a spark that hit some flammable materials on the outside of the building.

The animals that were inside — including orangutans, frogs, and crocodiles — were quickly evacuated to a safe location. No animals or firefighters were hurt and the fire was out by 4 p.m.

Kuhar said although the damage looks bad, most of what burned was exterior which was already being deconstructed and going to be removed anyway.

“So we’re in the process now of really doing a true assessment of the building to make sure that there’s nothing damaged that we were not aware of, but at this point that damage appears to be very minimal,” he said. “You can see they’re already back doing some deconstruction work behind me. So they’re back at it today. We don’t expect that there’s any major changes to the timeline. We feel that we’re on track and that the damage is minimal.”

Kuhar added that they did a health check on all the animals that were in the building and continued the health checks Thursday. They are back safe in their usual behind the scenes habitats.

Most the animals that live in the RainForest had already been relocated when the exhibit closed to the public in September.

The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo’s RainForest exhibit first opened in 1992 and was recognized as one of the largest of its kind in the world. But the exhibit is now in the process of being transformed into a brand new attraction.

In September 2024, the Zoo broke ground on its new Primate Forest attraction, which will be located at the site of the RainForest. 

According to the zoo website, Phase One opens in 2026, and includes a new welcome center, state-of-the-art animal habitats, including a new outdoor orangutan habitat, immersive storytelling technology and exhibits, a dynamic play area and enhanced dining and retail experiences.

Phase two will add an expansive, multi-story indoor gorilla habitat, as well as an outdoor habitat.

They expect the entire project to be complete prior to 2032 as part of the Zoo’s 150th anniversary.

“Those two phases, we think, are going to be really transformational for our zoo,” Kuhar said excitedly. “They’re going to be a landmark for the city of Cleveland. We’re really excited about it and luckily this incident hasn’t put us off track.”

While hanging out with Kuhar, we asked him what visitors can expect in 2025 and he said information will be released soon and he doesn’t want to spoil the surprise.

“We’re going to be doing our summer events,” he shared. “This past year we did dinosaurs. We’re going to be doing something a little bit different that we think is really exciting. So, we’re really working out what that plan is. Stay tuned. Very soon we’re going to be announcing some activities over the winter to just really remind people that we’ve got some cool animals here that like the winter.”