Hurley Fire Department douses Silver Street blaze

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Hurley - Hurley Fire Chief Mike Sejbl largely credits his department's quick response to a fire at the Krash Inn Monday for keeping the Silver Street tavern from suffering the same fate as the former Wishbones restaurant property next door.

"Thank god they were open, they called us and because of the response of the fire department ... we had interior attack and exterior attack and knocked it down right away," Sejbl said. "... If we hadn't gotten there as quick as we did and knocked it down from the interior and exterior, there's a real good chance it would have gone right through the ceiling all the way to the front - then we would have had trouble."

The former Wishbones restaurant next to the Krash Inn was the site of a 2013 fire that burnt much of that building.

Monday's fire originated in the mens bathroom, according to Sejbl. He didn't want to speculate as to what could have started the blaze, saying it was "undetermined."

The department was dispatched to the bar at 405 Silver St. at 11:44 a.m., according to Sejbl, arriving on the scene six minutes later.

"Fortunately someone was there to call us in right away when they saw smoke," he said. "But it was going pretty good when we got there."

While the responding firefighters had to cut through a portion of the building's rear wall and tear down at least part of the ceiling while extinguishing the flames, Sejbl said the damage could have been a lot worse.

Given that some of the wood in the building was incredibly dry and flammable and the building was lacking stops in the rafters, Sejbl said another 10 to 15 minutes and the building may not have been able to be saved.

"It could have been a total loss," he said, again crediting those in the bar for quickly reporting the fire and his department's effort for minimizing the losses.

The department cleared the scene at 1:11 p.m.