Update: U.S. Highway 30 reopens in New Plymouth after saloon fire
Update: The New Plymouth Fire Protection District announced the reopening of Highway 30 at about 7 p.m. Tuesday. The district warned that officials could close the highway again for a short time on Wednesday to allow for clean up.
A historic bar in downtown New Plymouth went up in flames Monday. Although crews extinguished the fire, U.S. Highway 30 through the town remained closed for most of Tuesday.
New Plymouth Fire Chief Joseph Wyatt told the Idaho Statesman that the closure included a 0.2-mile stretch between DJ’s Plymouth Market and Valley Family Health Care, according to the New Plymouth Fire Protection District.
Wyatt told the Statesman that the fire district responded to the Double Diamond Saloon building at about 8 a.m. Monday and found “the blaze had already extended extensively, making entry unsafe,” causing his crew to shift focus to “defensive operations to prevent spread to adjoining properties.”
The affected building, which was more than a century old, housed three separate businesses. The fire destroyed the saloon and Shear Attitude hair salon, while a flower shop escaped with only minor damage, Wyatt said.
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Officials evacuated nearby buildings as a precautionary measure, but no injuries were reported, according to a Payette County Sheriff’s Office news release.
Law enforcement closed U.S. 30 by 10 a.m. and asked members of the public to avoid the area to “allow fire crews and first responders the space they need to safely and effectively manage the incident,” the sheriff’s release said.
Fifteen fire departments and about 80 to 90 personnel from surrounding jurisdictions responded to assist with suppression efforts, Wyatt said.
The Idaho State Fire Marshal’s Office will lead the investigation into the origin and cause of the fire, once conditions permit, according to the fire chief.
Double Diamond was community center
Jan Holshevnikoff, a local rancher and former New Plymouth emergency medical technician, said she was downtown at 8:30 a.m., and stayed to watch it develop.
“It was just big, big, big smoke,” Holshevnikoff told the Idaho Statesman. “They were having to fight it from the roof. They could not get into the building.”
Holshevnikoff noted that because New Plymouth had just two bars, the Double Diamond was a central part of the community. It would host pool tournaments, holiday gatherings and goat roping, and also drew large crowds during rodeo weeks.
“They probably were booked solid for Christmas parties,” Holshevnikoff said. “It was the place to go if you were going to be in town for Super Bowl Sunday. ... They had all kinds of stuff going on there. It’s going to be a big loss.”
She said she saw little left of the bar and doubted it would be salvageable after the fire.
The owner of the Double Diamond kept a collection of antique cookie jars in the bar, and Holshevnikoff said she gave the owner a cookie jar that belonged to her father.
“The only issue is some of my dad was in it,” Holshevnikoff said, referring to her father’s ashes. “So my dad went up today, too.”
New Plymouth Rural Fire Department Chief Joseph Wyatt did not immediately respond to the Statesman’s request for updated information or comment.
This story was originally published November 24, 2025 at 7:19 PM.
