Smoke House Bar & Lounge

Fire destroys Weiser tavern

By JOHN DEAN
The Idaho Statesman

WEISER — A fire gutted the Smoke House Bar and Lounge in downtown Weiser on Friday morning and slightly damaged two adjacent buildings.

The fire, which began in the tavern’s basement, was still smoldering Friday evening, and volunteers from area fire departments were working in shifts to douse the embers.

The fire, reported shortly after 8 a.m., was the worst in Weiser since the 1972 burning of the Washington Hotel, city Fire Chief Ed Dohrmann said.

“If it had gotten through the roof before we got to it, it would have threatened the whole block,” Dohrmann said.

No one was injured, said Dohrmann. At least four tenants of the second-story apartments above the adjacent Crescent Tavern were evacuated.

More than 35 volunteers from the Weiser city and rural fire departments were called in. Twelve volunteers from the Payette and Ontario, Ore., departments also assisted.

Dohrmann said the fire was contained by 11 a.m. He said the fire took so long to extinguish because it was centered in the basement, where falling debris could kill a firefighter.

“We can’t get in there — I won’t send my men in there,” Dohrmann said.

The fire became harder to fight after the roof of the 68-year-old building caved in Friday afternoon, Dohrmann said.

Investigation into the cause of the fire won’t begin until Monday, at the earliest, Dohrmann said.

Dohrmann said he saw little to salvage in the building.

“The adjacent Star Theatre and Crescent Tavern appear to have pretty good fire walls,” Dohrmann said. “There were no holes knocked in the adjoining walls, and the fire didn’t get through”

The two buildings were damaged by water and smoke, he said.

The Smoke House, 34 State St., had emerged as a popular dance club in recent years, Weiser residents said. “It was wall-to-wall people on weekends, and the bar was full during the week,” Manager Donna Stout said.

Three other taverns are in the same block on State Street: the Crescent, the Talley-Ho and the Weiser Club.

The fire attracted a crowd of more than 100, mostly employees of downtown businesses, who watched from more than half a block away. A huge, steady billow of smoke shot through holes in the roof.

The tavern is owned by George and Janice Roggenkamp, Reno, Nev. Roggenkamp was in Weiser on Friday.

“Neither one of us ever drew a dime out of it,” Roggenkamp said. “Since July it had started to support itself. Now it goes to hell.”

The Roggenkamps bought the business in 1978. He said they moved to Weiser from western Washington, but took jobs in Reno to make up for the bar’s losses.

Business seemed to have picked up since Stout began managing the tavern, Roggenkamp said.

“It was getting to where she had to cross the street to borrow extra tables,” he said. “On a crowded night, there was probably a couple hundred people in there. I was driving in with a pickup load of lumber to make new tables this morning when I saw it was on fire.”

He estimated the loss, with insurance payments, at $60,000.