Monday marked the one year anniversary since the tragic fire that destroyed the Mercer building.
The Nebraska State Fire Marshall said the fire was caused by a contractor hitting a gas line in the area, which caused an explosion at M”s Pub.
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The Omaha Fire Department worked quickly to put out the fire.
“I knew they needed help down there based off the radio broadcast in route,” said Fire Chief Dan Olsen.
Then we was the Operations Section Chief, meaning he was the man in charge of organizing the scene.
“I explained my strategy, and it was very simple in my mind that night, to prevent that fire from traveling to the west and causing damage to the adjacent structure next to M’s Pub,” said Olsen.
He said they organized accountability, making sure they knew where every firefighter was at every moment.
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The sub-zero temperatures added a layer of difficulty to attacking the fire, and what may have looked like chaos from the outside was really a strategic plan to keep the firefighters healthy and able to keep working.
“So you rotate from deployment, to rehab, to staging, back to deployment and it worked very well that night once we got that organized.”
Olsen said throughout the night they kept focusing on keeping the fire contained and keeping the building “It ranks at the top in my career span as one of the larger fires I have been responsible for,” said Olsen.
Even after the roof collapsed, firefighters kept battling to save the building.
“It is now being rebuilt, it is very prideful to drive by the building and see it still standing and we look forward to seeing that building in the downtown area,” said Olsen.
The Omaha Fire Department worked for hours to save the Mercer building, the frozen shell is gone, and the building is being restored.
“The firefighters did an outstanding job of fighting that fire, and truly fighting that fire in the adverse elements we had to face, and it all paid off and we walked away from the fire with the walls still standing,” said Olsen.
M's Pub one year later. I spoke with OFD Chief Olsen about that day. See the full story tonight on @action3news at 5. pic.twitter.com/INKws5UPQz
— Miranda Christian (@MIRanda_TV3) January 9, 2017
