On Sunday morning, June 19, which was Father’s Day and Juneteenth, firefighters from four different area departments responded to a fire that heavily damaged Jim’s Saloon at 4527 Hwy. 62 W, between Eureka Springs and Berryville.
“We really appreciate such a great turnout from volunteers in the area to come help out with that fire,” Eureka Springs Fire and Emergency Medical Services Asst. Chief Gary Inman, said. “Especially considering it was a holiday, we had a great turnout. In addition to us, the fire departments from Inspiration Point, Holiday Island and Berryville responded.”
Initially the report from dispatch was that the structure was fully involved with fire.
“When we got there, we found out it was not fully involved and we had a reasonable chance to save some of the structure,” Inman said. “We found the structure was about two-thirds involved with fire and heavy smoke. We were able to get inside it and save a portion of the structure. The owners who live close by actually saw the smoke and called fairly quickly. That is what gave us a good chance of saving the structure. The structure is still standing, but the inside is heavily damaged. Some contents were able to be saved and were undamaged by the fire, but most of the contents will be a total loss.”
The fire took about an hour to put out and Inman said they stayed another three hours to do cleanup and make sure there weren’t any hot spots left that could reignite. They used thermal imaging cameras to detect any possible temperatures that might support combustion.
“We made sure there wasn’t anything that might possibly flare back up at a later point,” Inman said.
Jim’s Saloon was closed at the time and the building was unoccupied. Cause of the fire is still under investigation.
“Any fire, especially a commercial structure, is always referred to our fire investigator for further investigation,” Inman said. “There has been no determination yet of the cause of the fire or where it originated.”