GARDINER — The owner of the Cowboy's Lodge and Grille is beginning the long process of rebuilding after an early Saturday morning fire that heavily damaged the longtime Gardiner business, leaving tenants displaced and causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.
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Crews were called to the Cowboy's Lodge and Grille around 2:30 a.m. Saturday. Firefighters from Gardiner, Yellowstone National Park, Paradise Valley and Livingston responded to the blaze, which burned for roughly six hours before it was extinguished.
Investigators determined the fire was caused by a faulty air conditioning unit.
Andrew Emmert, who has worked in maintenance at the Cowboy Lodge and Grille, rushed to the scene after receiving a phone call that the building was on fire.
"I was honestly hoping it was a small fire I could put it out with a fire extinguisher and it would be over with," Emmert said.
He tried to stop the flames before firefighters arrived.
"I shoved the fire extinguisher through this window and broke the glass and sprayed the flames, but it wasn't enough," he said.
For owner Victor Kaufman, the fire is another devastating setback after years of challenges.
Kaufman has worked in Gardiner's restaurant industry since 2005 and says the latest fire comes after the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 downtown Gardiner fire and the historic Yellowstone flooding in 2022.
During the 2020 downtown fire, Kaufman helped cool propane lines as flames destroyed multiple businesses.
"That was pretty traumatizing. We lost five businesses that day," Kaufman said.
He said the repeated disasters have taken both a financial and emotional toll.
Kaufman said he took on roughly $1 million in federal disaster debt to keep his other businesses operating after previous disasters and lost two other business opportunities because of the financial strain.
"Fire PTSD — everybody in this town does. Every business owner is traumatized by fire," Kaufman said.
Now, Kaufman says he's facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage as he works to determine what comes next.
His biggest concern is whether the building can be saved. "The worst would be demolition, demoing the building, so my goal would be not to do that," he said.
The family later confirmed they do not have insurance coverage for the loss, making the road to recovery even more difficult.
Despite the destruction, Kaufman says he is grateful no one was hurt.
Everyone inside the building safely evacuated, including residents living in four apartments, guests staying at the lodge, and several animals, including three dogs and a parrot. Three displaced tenants are currently staying with friends in the area.
"Everyone made it out safe, and that's what I care about," Emmert said.
A GoFundMe has been created to help recover from the fire. A link to the fundraiser can be found below.
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://gofund.me/5a7bbdef8__;!!FJkDyvWmnr4!YUS54rNSs_C2KVbPQiRiVT_4QwyPeadHEG6fUoIxEPv4wuXBi0k8VXHj3UK3AZ-1NqSvWZkc8bdjLUs_bGg$
