The fire at The Busted Lift was a tragedy for us. I loved this bar. We'd been documenting it's expansion for quite some time. This is a series of 12 pictures which partially tell what we saw the night of it's fire. Our full photo-gallery and a more detailed feature article will be put on the site soon. Be sure to check back for those.
UPDATE: Click here for an update to our story about The Busted Lift.
The Busted Lift was created to be an authentic Irish Pub. By all accounts it succeeded. Because of it's friendly, laid-back atmosphere, it's unique style, and it's abundant selection of drinks, this bar was a great place to sit back and relax. This is a bar with a following. Like all bars "The Lift" had regulars including us, but unlike most other bars The Busted Lift had regulars from other countries.
It was around 11:15 on Saturday, March 8th, 2003 when I saw the plume of smoke out the window. We hurriedly gathered our things and ran over. Our hearts sank as we took in the sight of flames. Smoke was pouring from both the front and back of the building.
I spotted Chuck Kotz, the manager of the Julien Hotel. He allowed us to head to their roof, where we were able to directly see what was going on below. The access door to the roof of The Busted Lift was engulfed in flames. A number of smaller holes had burned through the roof where the fire was beginning to work it's way out.
One crew was fighting the fire from the front...
...and another crew was fighting the fire from the back.
This picture of the access doorway shows how the intense fire was scorching the roof...
...until it eventually had a partial cave-in.
Huge amounts of water were doused on the fire as the firefighters worked tirelessly to extinguish the flames. The fire was contained and only appears to have seriously affected the buildings that housed both sides of the Busted Lift.
Finally it was apparent that the fire was beginning to lose it's strength.
Before all this, it had been a good night for The Lift. We're told that about 60 people were in the bar at the time the fire was discovered. The patrons heard noises from the floor above, then smoldering ashes and bits of burning material began coming down the stairs. The staff assisted the patrons out the door. There was no panic and there were no injuries.
The owners and staff quietly gathered at the bar in the Grape Harbor wine store across the street. These people had all lost a great deal, but they all showed astonishing strength and seemed not to let this tragedy defeat them.
As The Lift's owner John Finn told officials what happened, the staff were quietly retelling their stories to one another. Some of the emergency vehicles were beginning to head home, and blankets of ice from all the water sprayed had begun to form on lower main. It wasn't long before salt trucks arrived, and city maintenance people began to clean up the mess.
We're not sure what the fate of The Busted Lift will be. Our website group just happened to be created within it's welcoming walls, and it was always a favorite hangout for us. We definitely want to see it rise from the ashes of this unfortunate incident. We'll keep you updated as we hear more. In closing, we'd like to say thank you and best wishes to all the people of The Busted Lift.
© 2003 : Photographs, text, and layout by Ben Burke of Dubuque365.com. This article and all it's photographs are copyright 2003 by Dubuque365.com and Ben Burke. All rights reserved. Please contact us if you have any questions of comments.