FARMINGTON

Clancy's Irish Cantina temporarily closed due to electrical fire in its bathroom hallway

Matt Hollinshead, mhollinshead@daily-times.com
The owners of Clancy's Irish Cantina say the restaurant will eventually reopen after a fire Friday night severely damaged the restaurant's interior.

FARMINGTON — The crew at Clancy’s Irish Cantina had just called it a night at 8:35 p.m. Friday, and everything seemed normal as they locked up.

Eighteen minutes later, Clancy’s general manager Lewis McMullen was notified that the building’s security alarm went off. He said he initially thought someone may have broken into the establishment.

Then he saw a security camera viewing the bathroom hallway flicker, which revealed something even more frightening: an electrical fire in the bathroom hallway.

The damage was significant.

Smoke filled the bathroom hallway, located immediately to the left upon entering the main door.

Heat emanating from the bathroom hallway soon made its way to and damaged the televisions, picture frames and neon signs. McMullen said one neon sign located above the patio door had melted.

That left a stench so strong that McMullen said he’s unsure whether some heavy duty cleaning products can remove it.

And Clancy’s is now temporarily closed as a result.

“We don’t know the exact cause,” McMullen said. “It’s horrific… All the windows are black from the inside. All our roofing is trashed from smoke.”

Clancy's Irish Cantina is temporarily closed due to an electrical fire that happened just after closing time on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020.

McMullen said there’s a lot of electrical wiring located in the heart of the building that goes back to the electrical panel.

Farmington Police Department spokesperson Nicole Brown said information gathered by fire investigators revealed nothing suspicious at this point.

“It didn’t appear there was anything out of the ordinary,” Brown said.

McMullen said investigators also confirmed with him that the fire appeared to be a “freak accident” and not of a suspicious origin.

McMullen said he expects it’ll be at least a month before Clancy’s, located at 2701 E. 20th St. in Farmington, can potentially resume carryout and delivery services because the establishment must get the utilities back on safely.

McMullen also said it’ll take another 60-120 days to finish rebuilding the restaurant.

In the meantime, a GoFundMe page has been created to help Clancy’s employees with financial relief.

“It’s devastating for them, too,” McMullen said. “Clancy’s is insured, Clancy’s will be rebuilt. What about our employees? They’re part of Clancy’s, too. It’s the people that we employ that make it happen.”

The caution tape in the parking lot is the only clue from the outside that a Friday night on Nov. 20, 2020 fire did serious damage to Clancy's Irish Cantina in Farmington.

Matt Hollinshead covers sports for the Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4577 and on Twitter at @MattH_717.

Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e