Nearby businesses still impacted after Denver apartment complex construction fire: "We're struggling"

An apartment complex under construction in Denver went up in flames five days ago. Firefighters used 18 million gallons of water to put it out, a process that took days. They were dumping water on hot spots until Monday.

Even though the building isn't on fire anymore, businesses nearby are still impacted.

Many homes and businesses in the area temporarily lost power after the blaze, including Inga's Alpine Tavern. Power has since been restored, but some services are still limited.

Last Friday was a typical busy Friday night at Inga's Alpine Tavern with a musicians playing live music. Then things changed. It wasn't the way owner Mary McKnabb thought the new year would begin. She got a sudden call from her son.

"He went outside with the Signal app and showed me on his phone the fire," said McKnabb. "At that point it wasn't crazy video that you saw, but definitely huge and more than what you would normally see with any kind of fire."

McKnabb's son told her that guests began leaving as the fire grew.

"We closed everything down. We pretty much left everything as is. My son grabbed the cash door, and everybody hightailed it out of here," said McKnabb.

The family-owned and operated business re-opened Saturday. At first, they could only take cash or Venmo. Now they're accepting credit cards using backup internet, but it limits what they can do.

"Thats what our bartenders and servers are doing now, is they're handwriting the orders they're having to take them back to our kitchen," said McKnabb. "We also can't give a customer a receipt on hand right away, but I can send somebody a receipt via text or an email."

The phone line has also not been restored yet. Calls are getting forwarded to McKnabb's cellphone.

Despite the impacts, they're still serving customers as best they can at the tavern. They're also delivering meals and taking orders through third party delivery services.

"We're slowly getting up to speed, but we're not quite there yet," said McKnabb. "It was just really, really scary and there's a lot to be grateful for. We're struggling still, but there's a lot to be grateful for, number one, that it's still standing, and we credit the firefighters for that."

Denver Fire says the three-story remaining part of the apartment complex should be knocked down by the end of the week, and that will help make the traffic situation in the area better. Some businesses and residents are still without power, but they're working closely with Xcel Energy to restore it.

The cause of the fire is still unknown.