Basement fire closes local sports themed bar & grill
Photo by CHANSE WATSON/ The exterior of Best Shots Bar & Grill Monday morning after the fire. Although the exterior shows little to no incident, the interior of the structure suffered heavy smoke damage as a result of the fire in the basement.
KELLOGG – It appears that Best Shots Bar and Grill will be closed indefinitely after suffering extensive smoke damage that came from an early morning fire on Monday.
Fire crews with Shoshone County Fire District No. 2 were toned out at approximately 3 a.m. when they received two separate reports of an incident at the business in Kellogg. The first report was from a concerned citizen who walked into the fire station and said that he saw smoke coming from the building. The second report was from law enforcement, who had noticed that the motion sensor at Best Shots had been tripped (as a result of the smoke, not a burglar).
Based half a mile away from the Bar & Grill, firefighters responded to the scene at 2 South Division Street quick enough to keep the situation from getting out of control.
SCFD No. 2 Chief Mark Aamodt explains that actual fire damage was limited to combustible objects and some equipment near the ignition point in the basement. The greatest issue (that will be chiefly responsible for an extended closure and cleanup) came from widespread smoke that damaged much of the interior.
Neither smoke or fire caused any significant structural damage.
“I would say the loss on direct fire damage will be just a couple thousand (dollars),” Chief Aamodt said. “But the damage caused by the smoke, that could end up running into the tens of thousands (of dollars).”
The establishment’s Facebook page acknowledged the incident Monday morning.
“Friends of Best Shots. We had a fire during the night so Best Shots will be closed for an undetermined time.”
As of press time, the official cause of the fire remains undetermined, but Aamodt stated that electrical issues were possibly a factor and that it appears to have been accidental in nature.
“The crews did a fantastic job getting it knocked out,” Aamodt said of the response. “Both with the passerby and the alarm system being activated, it got us on the fire early before it fully developed.”
Fire crews cleared the scene at 6 a.m. and no injuries were reported.