The fire was reported to 911 by a passerby at 11:58 am, who happened to be an Idaho Deputy Fire Marshal. The deputy discovered staff on the roof of the building attempting to extinguish the fire with a garden hose. Fortunately, the deputy and the employees immediately began evacuating the inn, which was accomplished prior to the arrival of fire units. Their quick action resulted in saving patrons’ lives.It was a great restaurant with excellent steaks and a fun old-West setting. It's a huge loss to the CDA area.Investigators from the State Fire Marshal’s Office, Kootenai County Fire & Rescue, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) arrived the following day to investigate. Thanks to the observations made by the deputy and other interviews, an area of interest was quickly identified. It was determined that a breach in the flue pipe above the kitchen’s wood-fired grill allowed an accumulation of grease to form on the flue piping and inside the attic. This build-up of grease ignited and spread to the remainder of the building. The fire was classified as accidental.
Ping
That happened just a few weeks ago?
This Labor Day period?
Sad. It looked like a very charming place.
People need such places to go, share a drink, a meal or a joke.
Maybe it will be rebuilt, but likely on a different piece of property. That property may need a new foundation.
The workers were on the roof trying to put the fire out.
That sounds extremely dangerous. Acting before really thinking about how that roof could have collapsed.
I know a guy that steam cleans restaurant exhaust systems for a living. Good money nasty job.
He said most managers/owners wait until it’s fixing to be a problem. For him, more grease=$$$.
Grease is the word.
I live in Spokane, close to Idaho. I’ve been to that restaurant, but not recently. Hate to see the old place go.
You would think that owners and managers would watch Kitchen Nightmares religiously and occasionally look at the issues they see on the show that Ramsay finds and goes nuts about, for instance this one that freaks him out about building destroying uncontrollable fires when he finds it.
Classic place, ate there several times. The live news report showed a blaze of remarkable intensity - it looked like a giant blowtorch; one look and you knew that it was going completely to ashes. Wood structure, grease-infused, no chance. Some talk locally that the owner isn’t going to rebuild on that site but nothing is settled yet, at least to my knowledge.
I’ll have my old 96er well done please
Grease fires are the worst. I’ve seen a couple very small ones in kitchens. I would hate to have one in a large wooden structure.
ATF needs to add a letter if they are now investigating grease fires.
This was sad!
We were planning to make our first visit to the restaurant.
“””the kitchen’s wood-fired grill allowed an accumulation of grease to form”””
and that is what made the steaks taste so great
Planned our wedding while having dinner there. Nice place.
I believe the old Wolf Creek Steakhouse in Spokane (closed) was a sister location to this.
Big loss around here. I hope they rebuild but they can’t recapture the charm of the place.
Well I see that saving money on maintenance really paid off, huh?
A great place with incredible atmosphere. Rocky Mountain Oysters too! As locals we only went there during the off season. It seems everyone in the area has eaten there at least once.
A great place with incredible atmosphere. Rocky Mountain Oysters too! As locals we only went there during the off season. It seems everyone in the area has eaten there at least once.
I have seen grease buildup in the cooking hood so bad that it probably did not matter if it had a fire suppression system or not.
Code requires a hood inspection twice a year. Assuming that the system was inspected, the tech failed miserably to not notice that the flue had a breach and I can’t imagine that there wasn’t grease dripping out of the ceiling, which should have alerted whoever was doing building maintenance or the company that should have been hired to clean the hood.
There was a lot of fail on multiple parties that led to this.
Washington State just voted to permit that MEGA HUGH wind turbine project along the Horse Heaven Hills. Only needs Inslee Idiot's signature to proceed.
The Washington state energy siting board voted 4-3 late Friday afternoon to recommend that a 24-mile long wind farm along the Horse Heaven Hills south of Kennewick without many of the limitations it previously recommended. The decision will be sent to Gov. Jay Inslee for a final ruling. Scout Clean Energy has proposed the Horse Heaven Clean Energy Center have up to 222 turbines about 500 feet tall or 141 turbines about 670 feet tall, plus solar arrays and battery storage.Read more at: https://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article292436374.html#storylink=cpy