By JEFF LAMPE
For The Weekly Post
FARMINGTON – Just a few feet away from a new lightpole banner thanking first responders for their work, local firefighters once again battled a major structure fire here.
A fire that started Monday night sometime before 9 p.m. in Whiskey Dixie’s Bar at 16 N. Cone St. quickly engulfed the bar and the attached Parkside Deli & Diner.
Before the fire was contained by about 11:30 p.m., Farmington Fire Chief Matt Waters said 27 neighboring departments had replied to the call for help, bringing more than 100 firefighters to assist in putting out the blaze on a chilly evening.
“The building is a total loss,” Waters said. “The state fire marshal is here assisting with the investigation, but we don’t have a cause of origin yet.”
Waters said some water and smoke damage was reported to the Froehling, Weber & Schell LLP business locateda few feet west of the building that burned.
There were no injuries in the fire.
Fulton County Clerk & Recorder Patrick O’Brian of Farmington has owned the N. Cone St. building since 2015 and said he will weigh options moving forward.
“It’s a total loss. We’ll have to look at our options and see what we can do,” O’Brian said. “There’s no way at today’s prices we could build a 7,500-square-foot building for whatever limits I have on my property casualty [insurance].”
O’Brian said Parkside Deli & Diner had been closed due to a recent “COVID exposure” but was going to reopen after Thanksgiving.
Cara and Marc Stewart had recently purchased Whiskey Dixie’s from Marshall Threw and, after spending nearly four weeks remodeling the bar, were planning to have their grand opening Wednesday night.
This is the third major fire in Farmington in the past seven years. In the wee hours of Oct. 25, 2015, a fire that started in Crossroads Bar claimed four businesses and two apartments on Fort Street. More than 40 fire departments responded.
Just 17 months earlier on May 15, 2014, the old three-story Farmington High School at East Vernon St. caught fire and burned. Afterwards, the dead body of Emmanuel Cervantes was found inside the old school.
