M's Pub Explosion and Fire

Post by **Coyote** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 2:02 pm

Latest updates: It would be 'premature' to speculate on cause of fire that destroyed M's Pub building, Omaha fire chief says

By Sarah Baker Hansen, Robynn Tysver, Brad Davis, Cindy Gonzalez, Barbara Soderlin and Jeff Bundy /-World-Herald staff writers wrote:Nick Bartholomew, who co-owns The Market House restaurant, said water was pouring into his restaurant’s bar and dining room area this morning. The restaurant is next to the Nouvelle Eve shop on the corner of 11th and Howard Streets. He had not been able to get inside the restaurant Sunday morning, but he said he is determined to remain in the Old Market. “We are going to rebuild,” he said. “This is home.”

Tim Smith, who owns the Tea Smith at 1118 Howard St., said his business fared better than many others. Smith was in the Old Market Sunday morning, he said, but he was not able to get inside his tea shop. He said there is likely water in the basement, but the building, which he shares with other businesses including Billy Froggs, City Limits and Stokes, seems otherwise undamaged.

Post by **BRoss** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:16 pm

You can still see the smoke from the top of MTC.

choke · Post by **choke** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:22 pm

Coyote wrote:Latest updates: It would be 'premature' to speculate on cause of fire that destroyed M's Pub building, Omaha fire chief says

By Sarah Baker Hansen, Robynn Tysver, Brad Davis, Cindy Gonzalez, Barbara Soderlin and Jeff Bundy /-World-Herald staff writers wrote:Nick Bartholomew, who co-owns The Market House restaurant, said water was pouring into his restaurant’s bar and dining room area this morning. The restaurant is next to the Nouvelle Eve shop on the corner of 11th and Howard Streets. He had not been able to get inside the restaurant Sunday morning, but he said he is determined to remain in the Old Market. “We are going to rebuild,” he said. “This is home.”

Tim Smith, who owns the Tea Smith at 1118 Howard St., said his business fared better than many others. Smith was in the Old Market Sunday morning, he said, but he was not able to get inside his tea shop. He said there is likely water in the basement, but the building, which he shares with other businesses including Billy Froggs, City Limits and Stokes, seems otherwise undamaged.

Yes, premature for the professionals to speculate but not too soon for me to speculate. Sounds like a company with a considerable amount of capital ruptured a gas line. If the finger points to that, this could be tied up in the court system for quite awhile. Their experts vs. the city's experts.

U R my Helix · Post by **U R my Helix** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:36 pm

Even IF the work outside is determined to be the cause of this event. Please keep in mind that it would likely be determined also to be accidental. The workers who dig and excavate for our cable, fiber optics, telephones and so on work in the cold and heat daily. They do what they do to provide the services we need and want. The employees who were on this job surely did not come to work with intent to do anything other then the job they are required to do daily. The people on this job are members of our community, they are just as important as those who are effected by the event.
Before considering casting stones consider this from another point of view.

choke · Post by **choke** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:55 pm

Per Durham Museum photo archive. Mercer fire in 1905 at the northwest corner of 11th and Howard.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:56 pm

U R my Helix wrote:Even IF the work outside is determined to be the cause of this event. Please keep in mind that it would likely be determined also to be accidental. The workers who dig and excavate for our cable, fiber optics, telephones and so on work in the cold and heat daily. They do what they do to provide the services we need and want. The employees who were on this job surely did not come to work with intent to do anything other then the job they are required to do daily. The people on this job are members of our community, they are just as important as those who are effected by the event.
Before considering casting stones consider this from another point of view.

Even so, there will likely be some kind of insurance they have for events just like this, kind of how hospitals have money set aside for malpractice suits.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 4:20 pm

Digging laws put the responsibility on those doing the digging, for the most part.

http://www.ne1call.com/ne-law-enforceme ... -statutes/

Time will tell who is to blame and the exact cause, but you have to question the wisdom of doing directional boring under the sidewalk/street in such a congested, populated, historic area. Who knows how accurate all of the records are for all of the utilities installed since the 1880's, including gas lines into the buildings. Of course, it would have been very disruptive to dig a trench, instead of boring, to install the plastic conduit for the fiber-optic line.

It's surprising it appears the fire was gas-fed for about 1-1/2 hours after the explosion, before the gas was shut off...if the media reports are correct.

Uffda · Post by **Uffda** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:21 pm

The OWH has some aerial photos --- looks like you have outside walls - no roof and not much in the inside.

http://odc.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=5002&p=6365

Uffda · Post by **Uffda** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:36 pm

wowt drone video

http://www.wowt.com/home/headlines/Ice- ... 84031.html

Linkin5 · Post by **Linkin5** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:49 pm

This is so depressing, hopefully they can save the shell of the building.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 6:04 pm

I'm trying not to over react as I continue to process this crazy "event"..

How rotten I felt when the Butternut building burned to a crisp- X 2..just about sums it up...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Post by **Coyote** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 7:01 pm

The Market House

WOWT Drone

Post by **Coyote** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 9:25 pm

[youtube][/youtube]

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 9:28 pm

GetUrban wrote: It's surprising it appears the fire was gas-fed for about 1-1/2 hours after the explosion, before the gas was shut off...if the media reports are correct.

MUD was there fairly quickly, but from scanning Twitter last night, I guess they had trouble shutting the gas off. A valve broke or something like that. Most of the mains and lines in that area have to be super old, so it may not have been feasible to isolate the leak some other way.

Post by **Omaha Cowboy** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 9:36 pm

Coyote wrote:[youtube][/youtube]

Only 2 words come to mind- Holy Moly...

Ciao..LiO...Peace

Spatial77 · Post by **Spatial77** » Sun Jan 10, 2016 11:55 pm

GetUrban wrote:Digging laws put the responsibility on those doing the digging, for the most part.

http://www.ne1call.com/ne-law-enforceme ... -statutes/

Time will tell who is to blame and the exact cause, but you have to question the wisdom of doing directional boring under the sidewalk/street in such a congested, populated, historic area. Who knows how accurate all of the records are for all of the utilities installed since the 1880's, including gas lines into the buildings. Of course, it would have been very disruptive to dig a trench, instead of boring, to install the plastic conduit for the fiber-optic line.

It's surprising it appears the fire was gas-fed for about 1-1/2 hours after the explosion, before the gas was shut off...if the media reports are correct.

I would assume that the lines were marked prior to construction. Any reputable construction company would do this before any work requiring excavation. I don't know what Nebraska laws are, but in Texas you must have the utility locator service come out and mark lines prior to any excavation on a public right of way. The excavation must take place within one week of the marking, otherwise the line locater has to come out again to relocate/remark everything. If you hit utilities and have not had the line locators out then you are liable. If you have had utilities located and you hit something that was not marked then you are generally not liable (although you can de sued for anything).

Although predicting the future is difficult, I am 99.999% sure that lawyers will be involved.

As far as gas line shutoff; depending on gas main size, and pressure, and network, it can take several hours for gas flow to cease once valves are closed. I am guessing that they hit a main, and not just a lateral feeder to the building. If a main was hit then we were lucky that the fire was not larger and more buildings were involved.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:42 am

I wouldn't be surprised if the quick freezing water totally compromised the brick joints. I don't think this one will be saved.

lmdramos · Post by **lmdramos** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:15 am

The contractors absolutely should be held responsible IF they hit the gas line and for a matter of fact, they should face criminal charges as well. There was ample time for someone to come out, ask the workers if they hit a gas line and for them to respond yes. Yet, they didn't call 911 or alert MUD (according to Fire Chief Kanger). Heck, MUD only found out about the gas line rupture off of the police scanner. The first step is always to call 911 and they did not, in fact, according to the OWH article, they called the KC company they were working for after the fire broke out and lied to them about calling 911, putting hundreds of people at risk. The restaurant workers acted appropriately in focusing their attention on getting people out of the restaurant and assuming that the fiber workers had called 911.

http://www.omaha.com/news/metro/witness ... 1c8c6.html

damonhynes · Post by **damonhynes** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:37 am

I was thinking what if this had happened four hours later when everyone is down there clubbing or going to dinner. Also, if this had been a new build there would have been a lot more glass involved.

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:40 pm

— Stokes Grill and Bar, just west of M’s Pub, had a sign pinned to its front door facing Howard Street on Monday morning that read: "Due to the fire at M’s Pub, we will be closed until further notice. Sorry for the inconvenience. As soon as we can, we will be open for business.’’

Post by **Brad** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:51 pm

Coyote wrote:
— Stokes Grill and Bar, just west of M’s Pub, had a sign pinned to its front door facing Howard Street on Monday morning that read: "Due to the fire at M’s Pub, we will be closed until further notice. Sorry for the inconvenience. As soon as we can, we will be open for business.’’

Our gallery still smells like smoke and we were on a different block.

Linkin5 · Post by **Linkin5** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:47 pm

Stokes just posted something else on Fb stating today they were cleaning up water and tomorrow they would reopen.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:49 pm

Just an observation...from the aerial photos, it looks like the M's building has a brick wall running from east to west, mid-way vertically dividing the building into a north half and a south half. That could help somewhat with stability, although that wall had openings in it and some parts of the wall might have collapsed. The northwest corner of the building didn't extend all the way to the west building. It had a 4' x 12' light well open to the north side. This probably helped keep the fire from spreading into the west building, somewhat. It appears the building had two big skylights on the north and south halves.

The freeze-thaw of the surrounding water & ice is probably almost as damaging to the brick and mortar as the fire was to the wood. I sure hope they do everything that can be done to save the brick shell, but it looks pretty bad right now. The Jobbers Canyon Bar & Grill (Blue) at 12th & Harney probably looked worse and had more parts of the wall collapse after its fire, but it happened in warmer weather without all of the ice.

jelizh · Post by **jelizh** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 1:58 pm

Gas leak across from City hall, looked like firefighters were focusing on the Empire State Building on 19th. Hopefully of a different nature this time!

Post by **Brad** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:15 pm

Here are all my photos starting with the explosion about 3pm Saturday and the last photo was about 10am on Sunday.

1. Right after the Explosion, Fire coming out of the sidewalk in front of M's (Cell Phone Photo).

2. Brick removed by the contractor

3. Fire Fighters working from above

4. Smoke beginning to fill the old market

5. From the north side

6. Stretching hoses down to 10th Street

7. Smoke getting really thick

8. From 10th Street

9. From Farnam

10. water rolling off the iconic overhang

11. The spool of wire that was being installed

12. After Dark

13. Firefighters hard at it

14. Firefighters hard at it

15. Firefighters hard at it

16. The Next morning...

17. The boring machine that caused all this covered in Ice.

18. Ice covered wreath

19. Fire Escape coated in Ice

20. Firetruck with ice under it.

21. OPD and OFD talking as water continues to spray.

22. From the north side

23. Look at all that ice!

24. Tried to check on our Gallery, but this is as far as I could get.

25. One more look back at the ice.

26. Here is what we lost....

So sad....

Post by **nebugeater** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:30 pm

Nice work Brad on some great photos of a terrible situation.

GRANDPASMUCKER · Post by **GRANDPASMUCKER** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:04 pm

This live press conference going on right now is not going so well. Seems some of the reporters share GrandpaSmuckers suspicions about this construction crew. Heres the bad news, the city is the one that hired the outfit that hired the sub contractors so ultimately the City is repsonsible. Rats.

Post by **Brad** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:14 pm

I thought the press conference sounded very optimistic... Sounds like they are going to do everything they can to save the building.

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:23 pm

Brad wrote:I thought the press conference sounded very optimistic... Sounds like they are going to do everything they can to save the building.

Sounds like Mercer wants to rebuild, it depends on that north wall, and M's wants to go back. Someone asked about TIF, but the mayor half heartedly just shook her head...

Post by **Brad** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:25 pm

Coyote wrote:Someone asked about TIF, but the mayor half heartedly just shook her head...

I'm pretty sure the question is was "Would the city help they with rebuilding" ans the Mayor's answer was TIF.

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:26 pm

GRANDPASMUCKER wrote: Heres the bad news, the city is the one that hired the outfit that hired the sub contractors so ultimately the City is repsonsible. Rats.

Huh? The permit guy said it was a Verizon microcell project. They used Unite Private Networks for the fiber vendor, and they subbed out to the work to run the lines.

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:27 pm

Linkin5 wrote:Stokes just posted something else on Fb stating today they were cleaning up water and tomorrow they would reopen.

Stokes in the Old Market will be closed again today to clean up the water from the fire this weekend. We will re-open for business tomorrow at 11 a.m. Thanks for your patience and support!

Simonpal · Post by **Simonpal** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 4:44 pm

God I hope the shell of the building can be saved & M's can be rebuilt! My memories of it date back to 1973. To me it was THE Old Market Touchstone...great staff & wonderful atmosphere. Good luck to y'all!

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 5:37 pm

Unless they can find a way to bypass the insurance companies and/or make a deal, this issue may sit in court for years before anything is done to the site.

lmdramos · Post by **lmdramos** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 7:54 pm

Isn't it usual in these types of situations that the insurance company of the building owner will immediately pay to get the process started and then if it's deemed someone else fault, they will seek compensation from that party's insurance company. Plus, you'd invoke your insurance in this situation anyway if it is was just a freak accident and they are required by contract to pay for the buildings replacement minus the deductible.

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 8:51 pm

January 1905 Mercer Building fire:

: image.jpg (100.76 KiB) Viewed 2278 times

: image.jpg (107.05 KiB) Viewed 2278 times

: image.jpg (93.34 KiB) Viewed 2278 times

Post by **Brad** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:05 pm

Saw those on KMTV's website. That was the same location of the M's building, correct? Its amazing how similar some things are 100+ years later.

GetUrban · Post by **GetUrban** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:38 pm

Wow, that original Mercer building had some huge brick arches. No wonder they couldn't save it. You have to give a lot of credit to OFD for getting this one under control before more buildings were consumed.

That third old photo looks like the southwest corner of 11th & Harney...that building is still there, although it lost the cornice and they added to the top. Looking at Brad''s photo above from the same location, you can see the buildings are the same.

I'm wondering what was lost in the 1940 fire that has been mentioned by the Mercer family. Maybe there was a building where the covered parking area is north of M's.

Post by **Brad** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 9:42 pm

GetUrban wrote:I'm wondering what was lost in the 1940 fire that has been mentioned by the Mercer family. Maybe there was a building where the covered parking area is north of M's.

I was wondering that too. Even though the building was burned out, you can still picture what 11th street looked like without that parking lot.

Post by **Coyote** » Mon Jan 11, 2016 11:06 pm

I heard that one of the Mercers brought the blueprints of this building to OFP so they could see what they were up against.
Helped them to know at what they should be looking.