Fire destroys historic bar in Idaho town, closes highway

NEW PLYMOUTH (Idaho Statesman) — A historic bar in downtown New Plymouth went up in flames Monday, and officials were forced to close U.S. Highway 30 through the town as fire crews worked to stop the blaze from spreading to other buildings.

Multiple fire departments and law enforcement agencies responded to the scene at the Double Diamond Saloon, the Payette County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The affected building, which was more than a century old, housed three separate businesses, the Independent-Enterprise reported. The fire destroyed the saloon and a hair salon, while a flower shop escaped with only minor damage, the media outlet run by the Argus (Oregon) Observer said.

Officials evacuated nearby buildings as a precautionary measure, but no injuries were reported, according to the news release.

Law enforcement closed U.S. 30 by 10 a.m. and asked members of the public to avoid the area to “allow fire crews and first responders the space they need to safely and effectively manage the incident,” the sheriff’s release said. The highway was still closed in town as of 6 p.m.

Fire officials had not been able to determine the cause of the blaze “due to the ongoing suppression efforts,” the Payette sheriff’s office said.

Double Diamond was community center

Jan Holshevnikoff, a local rancher and former New Plymouth emergency medical technician, said she was downtown at 8:30 a.m., about an hour after the fire was reported, and stayed to watch it develop.

“It was just big, big, big smoke,” Holshevnikoff told the Idaho Statesman. “They were having to fight it from the roof. They could not get into the building.”

Holshevnikoff noted that because New Plymouth had just two bars, the Double Diamond was a central part of the community. It would host pool tournaments, holiday gatherings and goat roping, and also drew large crowds during rodeo weeks.

“They probably were booked solid for Christmas parties,” Holshevnikoff said. “It was the place to go if you were going to be in town for Super Bowl Sunday. … They had all kinds of stuff going on there. It’s going to be a big loss.”

She said she saw little left of the bar and doubted it would be salvageable after the fire.

The owner of the Double Diamond kept a collection of antique cookie jars in the bar, and Holshevnikoff said she gave the owner a cookie jar that belonged to her father.

“The only issue is some of my dad was in it,” Holshevnikoff said, referring to her father’s ashes. “So my dad went up today, too.”

New Plymouth Rural Fire Department Chief Joseph Wyatt did not immediately respond to the Statesman’s request for updated information or comment.