5 downtown businesses damaged or destroyed by fire in Northern Idaho town

Five businesses were damaged or destroyed early Monday when a fire tore through a building in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

Crews responded to the corner of Fourth Street and Lakeside Avenue at about 1:15 a.m. to find flames in the building that houses Schmidty’s Burgers, Heart City Tattoo, Cole Taylor Salon, Farmers Insurance and Emerge, an arts organization.

The burger joint, the tattoo parlor and the hair salon were total losses, fire officials said. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. No injuries were reported.

“We are obviously not going to be open for a while, at least in this location. no one was hurt thank God!!” Schmidty’s Burgers said in a Facebook post.

In a post on its website, Emerge said its space experienced less damage than the other businesses.

“This is what we know. The fire wall between Schmidty’s and Emerge held up!” the post said. “For the most part the structure of Emerge is fine. The firefighters were able to break in and remove all the art and move it to Cisco’s. They saved most everything and we are so grateful for their care and thoughtfulness.

“Emerge has suffered major smoke damage and our space will be closed for some time. We will work to keep everyone posted. We are so sad for our neighbors! Four amazing, vibrant small businesses are terribly damaged. Please support them as they rebuild.”

The Coeur d’Alene Fire Department asked people to avoid the area. Lakeside was closed between Third and Fifth streets, and Fourth was closed between was closed between Sherman and Coeur d’Alene avenues.