Downtown St. Cloud starts cleanup after Press Bar fire
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St. Cloud is still reeling after a major fire destroyed a historic bar in the heart of downtown Monday.
But the city's mayor says St. Cloud will recover from the loss of an iconic building with a colorful history dating back more than a century.
The Press Bar was a fixture on the corner of St. Germain Street and Fifth Avenue for as long as most people can remember. But at about 2:40 a.m. Monday, a fire broke out in its basement and consumed the building.
It took about 60 firefighters several hours to put out the blaze. In the end, they demolished the building to prevent the fire from spreading.
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Some streets and businesses remained closed on Tuesday as investigators combed through what's left of the Press Bar building, trying to determine what caused Monday’s early morning fire.
John Jacobson was at home in his apartment about two blocks away when the fire started. He said it's strange to see the familiar downtown landscape changed so dramatically, with streets blocked off and cranes scooping debris.
"I mean, it's level — just gone,” Jacobson said. “I watched them tear parts of it down. And, you know, it was sad."
At a news conference on Tuesday morning, St. Cloud Mayor Dave Kleis credited the efforts of firefighters for the fact that no one was hurt or injured.
"They did a remarkable job of not only fighting the fire but containing it,” Kleis said. “These are old buildings. These are buildings that are very close in proximity."
In fact, the two bars on either side of the Press — the Red Carpet and Cowboy Jack's — sustained smoke and water damage. But they remain standing and should be able to reopen soon, said St. Cloud Fire Chief Dean Wrobbel.
The building occupied a historic spot in downtown St. Cloud. It was the site of the city's first post office and a general store. The Press Bar opened there in the 1940s and was a gathering spot for decades.
Longtime St. Cloud fire marshal Mike Post said the blaze was one of the biggest he's seen, and posed a challenge for firefighters.
"The building was over 100 years old, so it spanned several different versions of remodeling,” Post said. “The building had a lot of concealed spaces in it — voids where fire could travel uninhibited, and basically get ahead of the firefighters. So, it was a very dangerous fire to fight."
Kleis said the current owners, who bought the bar in 2016 and remodeled it, haven't decided whether to rebuild.
"You had lost a business, and that's the tragic situation. Somebody lost their livelihood,” Kleis said. “That's quite a blow and a shock."
A couple doors down from the Press Bar, Granite City Comics and Games remained closed Tuesday as workers used sponges on long poles to wipe soot off the ceiling. Large ventilators cleared the smoky smell out of the air, as owner Tim Schulte checked his comic book inventory for damage.
"There’s not a lot of soot damage,” he said. “It's more smoke damage, and trying to get the residue off so the smell goes away."
Schulte said he hopes to reopen soon, and is eager to see downtown return to business as usual.
"It's really surreal — just that everything's closed off,” he said. “Normally, I see a lot of people walking around downtown. They're not there because they're trying to keep everybody away so nobody gets hurt."
Kleis said he expects the blocked-off streets downtown will reopen tomorrow. He said the city will assist the businesses affected by the fire in any way it can.
"The downtown is an important commercial corridor. It's historic and it's an important part of the city's vitality,” Kleis said. “So, we're going to continue to do everything we can to help all the businesses that are downtown, and particularly those that are affected by this tragedy."
In the meantime, investigators are inspecting the debris scoop by scoop as it's removed for indications of what caused the fire. Officials say it's too early to draw any conclusions.