It’s the first football Sunday since Mick O’Shea’s Irish Pub has been able to re-open in the wake of a September 29th underground fire.
A faint smell, like campfires, is barely noticeable as newcomers and longtime regulars alike gather once again to drink Guinness and chow down on fish and chips.
Regulars like Iris Frank, who used to come in every day for lunch when she worked down the block.
“I was solely devastated when the fire happened, and I thought they weren't going to reopen,” said Frank. “They're just like family. It's like going to Cheers. It's like, everybody knows you here.”
The fire caused severe damage to several businesses and knocked out utilities, including phone and internet, for thousands of customers for days. Mick O’ Shea’s was forced to close after sustaining severe damage from smoke and the sprinkler system. Nearby Viva Books in the Brown Arcade is still closed after the fire caused a nearby manhole to explode, shattering the store’s windows and ripping a hole through the floor. Lumbini Restaurant had to close after being filled with smoke.
Mick O’ Shea’s co-owner Stephanie Webber tries to stay positive but the whole situation has been hard.
“Well, we had to throw out everything, all our products, not even just like the fresh product, but we had to throw out a lot of our dry goods, like our paper products because it got ruined by the sprinkler system and all the smoke,” said Webber.
And then there’s taking care of the staff.
“We told them to go on unemployment. We had our own insurance, and we were able to pay them an hourly wage. But obviously that's not the same as tips,” said Webber. “Once we opened back up the customers came back and just tipped them very heavily, so they're able to recoup some but a month is a month, you know?”
It took three and a half weeks for Mick O’Shea’s to reopen.
The cause of the fire is still unknown - as is the cause of a similar fire that happened a block away in January. Sitting at the end of the bar, Hannah Meshulam found that a little nerve-wracking.
“I think it's really, really messed up,” said Meshulam. Like they’ve got to do something about it… they're lucky, because most of the times this has happened, it's been in the middle of the night, so nobody's hurt. But like, if that same thing happened, like, 4 p.m. instead of 4 a.m., people would die, you know.? Like, that's really scary.”
During a hearing last week at City Hall, representatives from the fire and transportation departments said it’s possible they’ll never know the cause of those fires. Partially because, as Baltimore City Fire Chief James Wallace explained, they’re really dangerous to investigate.
“We do not have the ability to place a fire investigator underground, given confined space laws,” said the fire chief. “There are certain trainings that fire investigators would have to have in order to go subsurface — underground — and attempt to determine that cause.”
And when asked if aging infrastructure was the problem, Director of Transportation Corren Johnson says some of the areas impacted by the September fire were replaced after the January fire.
“So some of what was a part of this current fire was new. So it wasn't necessarily an age type of thing,” said Johnson.
The business owners on Charles Street didn’t want to talk about the fire or any concerns that something could happen again. Lumbini Restaurant and Mick O’Sheas both had to close in January, but for no more than a couple of days.
Back on Charles Street, Mick O’ Shea’s co-owner Stephanie Webber doesn’t want to dwell on fires. She’s grateful for the support they’ve received from various city agencies and the Charles Street Development Corporation.
“They all worked with us, which normally doesn't always happen… So, you know, at this point, I just want to say positive words,” she said.
Stem and Vine and Viva Books are currently cohabiting in a temporary shared space on the 800 block of North Charles. Inside, cozy stacks of books sit on columns between elegantly displayed monsters.
Neither business owner wanted to speak in an interview, saying, “It’s still too close.” But, they did express some cautious optimism that they’ll be in their old storefronts in the Brown Arcade “soon.”
Dinesh Gurung, owner of Lumbini Restaurant, now thinks he’ll be open sometime in the middle of the first full week of November. He’s just waiting on some final deep, professional cleaning and a sign-off from the city’s health department.
He just hopes the customers won’t forget about them when they open. “I am hoping that we can send messages out to customers and let them know to come back,” said Gurung.
