Explosion, fire devastates Cedar Rapids bar

UPDATE: An explosion blew out the back half of a Cedar Rapids bar Sunday night.

According to Cedar Rapids Fire Department reports, two workers at the nearby Cedar Rapids Tank Wash heard an explosion at the Sixth Street bar and Grill, 4617 J St. SW, and drove down the street to find the back half of the bar engulfed in flames.

The explosion also shook the ground and woke residents of Kirkwood Estates, a nearby manufactured home community.

Upon their arrival, firefighters saw extensive damage to the back half of the building with insulation and debris thrown as far as 200 feet from the building.  Fire crews entered the building through a side door and found a significant amount of fire above the kitchen area, plus several spot fires throughout the back half of the building. The fires were extinguished within 20 minutes.  The back half of the business contained the kitchen, coolers, a mechanical room and an office.

The business was closed on Sunday.  The owner of the building and one-half of the business, Scott Reilly, said he emptied trash at the bar around 9 a.m. Sunday, otherwise the building was unoccupied since that time.  Randy Olson of Cedar Rapids owns the other half of the business.

No one was hurt.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.  Firefighters remained at the scene through the night, as the structural integrity of the building is compromised. Heavy equipment will need to be brought to the scene to shore up the structure before an extensive interior investigation resumes Monday morning.

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