January 23 fire at Mulligan's Grill Pub renders building a total loss
Mulligan's Grill Pub deemed a total loss after January 23 blaze ... The Iowa State Fire Marshal's Office has been unable to officially determine the cause of the Tuesday evening, January 23 fire that destroyed the interior of Mulligan's Grill Pub in south Waukon. A lack of supporting evidence and the extent of damage from the blaze has resulted in that unproven cause. Mulligan's Grill Pub owner Dana Ruegnitz did relay that suspicious or criminal activity has been ruled out as a cause, and says at this point in time his future plans for the business he bought just short of two years ago also remain undetermined. A total of 32 volunteers from the Waukon Area Fire Protection District responded to the blaze, knocking down interior flames in short order and continuing to battle remnants of the fire in the complex attic structure of the building, with the help of an aerial ladder truck from the Decorah Fire Department (pictured above), until the fire was officially ruled extinguished at 2 a.m. Wednesday, January 24. Crew members remained on the scene to monitor and control hot spots until 10 a.m. that morning, about 12 hours after the fire was initially reported. Additional photos can be found on Page 12A in the print edition and e-edition of The Standard.
The night of Tuesday, January 23 brought a great deal of change, impact and uncertainty to the local area, from the more personal perspective of an individual business owner to the broader reach of his customer base and the greater community that has supported his venture. A fire that evening destroyed the interior of Mulligan's Grill Pub, located at 610 Rossville Road in Waukon, a blaze that may not have left much exterior evidence but certainly took its toll on the interior of the restaurant and its attic space.
That lack of exterior damage can be attributed to the quick notice of interior flames by passerby Chris Stuckenschneider of Waterville - who was credited with calling in the fire at 9:42 p.m., according to the Allamakee County Emergency Dispatch Center call log, and an equally as quick response by local volunteers of the Waukon Area Fire Protection District. "These guys are the best around," Mulligan's owner Dana Ruegnitz said about the local firefighting volunteers. "Without their quick response and focused attack on the building, this could have been a lot worse than it is. We can't thank them enough."
The fire had been reported shortly after the business had been closed for the evening. There was no one in the building at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported from the incident.
A report from local fire officials says crews attacked the flames from the east and north sides of the building, using existing doorways to enter the structure and finding heavy smoke and intense heat accompanying the flames. Firefighters made short work of the evident flames inside the structure, but the remaining presence of smaller fires and hot spots in the building's attic and roof structure continued to provide firefighters with challenges difficult to attack due to the layered roofing structure from previous construction additions to the original building. Ultimately, the building has been declared a total loss by fire officials.
An aerial ladder truck from the Decorah Fire Department was summoned to provide the safest and most effective means to further address the fire remnants in the attic area. A crew from the Decorah Fire Department used the unit's extended ladder and bucket system to reach the roofing area and cut a hole (as evident in the photo at right) in order to better approach and monitor the hot spots left behind in the building's cellulose insulation, according to local fire officials.
The fire was ruled to be officially extinguished by 2 a.m. Wednesday morning, January 24 but fire crew members remained on scene until nearly 12 hours after the fire had originally been reported to continue to monitor hot spots and prevent any re-igniting of flames. In all, 32 volunteers from the Waukon Area Fire Protection District responded to the scene, along with about a half dozen members from the Decorah Fire Department. Those fire crews were also assisted in different ways by the Waukon Police Department, Allamakee County Sheriff's Department, the Iowa State Patrol, Alliant Energy and Black Hills Energy.
The report from local fire officials also states that authorities from the Iowa State Fire Marshal's Division and the Waukon Area Fire Protection District were at the scene of the fire mid-morning Wednesday, assessing the remnants of the structure and investigating a possible cause. With no clear evidence of a starting point and heavy damage to areas involved, the cause of the fire is officially listed as "undetermined" at this point, although Ruegnitz did say that officials have ruled out any suspicious or criminal activity as a possible cause.
Ruegnitz further shared in a social media post, followed by in-person confirmation, that State Fire Marshal officials and the structural engineer from his insurance company had been "leaning toward a malfunction in one of the HVAC units on the roof" as the unofficial cause, further noting that the flames had reportedly spread quickly from that location through the plastic ductwork and insulation in the structure's attic area. "Without any further evidence, right now all we know is that the cause is officially listed as 'undetermined'," he shared.
That "undetermined" label unfortunately also carries over to Ruegnitz's future plans for Mulligan's at this point in time, certainly understandable just a week following the fire. He had recently purchased the business just shy of two years ago, and his considerations expanded beyond just himself when he was married in August of this past year.
"There are just too many unanswered questions at this point for us to be able to say for sure what the future holds for Mulligan's, or for what we might do with the building or the business," Ruegnitz explained. "All we know for sure right now is how grateful we are for all the support that has been shown to us."
