Tigerton fire. Image courtesy: WAOW TV
TIGERTON, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – The former Crossroads Bar and Grill in Tigerton is now a total loss after a fire on Saturday evening.
The Tigerton Volunteer Fire Department (TVFD) was dispatched to 300 Cedar St. for a structure fire. The building was a bar and restaurant for the longest time, and was currently being used as an apartment space.
TVFD says that everyone got out safely, and people in the area say there were about seven inside when it happened.
Viewer video showed smoke and flames erupting from the second story of the building, with crews working on extinguishing the fire overnight.
Workers from neighboring businesses rushed over immediately to see if anyone was still inside. One of them was Lana Fox, a waitress for Mainstreet Diner, who has lived in Tigerton for three months.
“A lot of us noticed their was smoke coming out of one of the windows upstairs,” said Fox. “A couple of us went up their to pound on the doors and make sure everybody was out of there.”
The Tigerton Chief of Police, Michael Weatherwax, says first responders found the upstairs covered in smoke, but no flames.
As the fire continued to spread, extreme heat forced crews to exit, and the mutual aid alarm was increased to level five.
More than 20 fire departments responded to the alarm, and TVFD reported around 540,000 gallons of water was used to extinguish the fire.
While crews worked through the night to put out the fire, business owners next to the building stayed up as well. Julie Graham, the owner of Mainstreet Diner, was one of them.
“While that was going on, Julie had taken it upon herself to help feed the firefighters,” said Fox. “She was up until 3 o’clock in the morning cooking cheeseburgers for them.”
The building had a history in Tigerton, as it underwent several changes in ownership. Anita Kernen, owner of Anita Haircut, said she is good friends with the previous owners and used bartend for them.
“It was the hopping place in town back in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s,” said Kernen. “I worked their for 16 years bartending for the original owners.”
Kernen has done hair for the last 20 years in town, right across the street from what was the building’s south side.
TVFD says they were taken back by the amount of help they received to put out the fire. Thank you letters are being sent around the community for people to sign, and will be picked up and sent to those fire departments within the next week.
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