By Kim McDarison

Whitewater Common Council member Lisa Dawsey Smith, who also is the chairperson of the board for each of two groups, the Whitewater Area Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Whitewater, was busy Saturday afternoon with yard work when she realized she needed a tool.

As she returned from a nearby hardware store, she saw emergency vehicles converging on the city’s downtown area, and, she said, she set her “city council hat” aside, opting to focus on local businesses that could be affected by the emergency.

That afternoon, at 2:12 p.m., fire had broken out on the roof of a building, which, Dawsey Smith said, immediately affected what would technically be considered two buildings on the southeast corner of North Second and West Center streets. The contiguous buildings reside in a portion of the city known by some as “the Triangle.” It is the area in which some of the city’s oldest buildings are found, she said.

The delineation of individual buildings in the area is sometimes difficult to determine because not all are separated by dividing exterior walls. In the case of the structure on Center Street, technically, she said, it’s two buildings, and both have the same owners.

By 2:45 p.m., Dawsey Smith said she had arrived on Center Street and went in search of affected business owners, looking to offer moral support and help.

Two other Center Street businesses, each residing in contiguous buildings situated to the east of the structure that was on fire, the BaristaCats Cafe and TeaLux, were evacuated by firefighters. A third business, situated within the same area, was closed for the day while its owners attended an event in Beloit.

According to Dawsey Smith, soon after the fire erupted, telephone communication had been established between herself and the owners of the BaristaCats Cafe and ReVamp Nutrition, with each responding to the situation. The owner of ReVamp Nutrition was en route to Whitewater to assess the situation and the owners of BaristaCats had already loaded most of the cats in their care into pet carriers and cars as part of their evacuation process.

Two cats remained unaccounted for, she said, although one was located after firefighters allowed the owners to go back inside their buildings, which, Dawsey Smith recalled, was about an hour after the onset of the fire. 

As of Sunday afternoon, a young, black, female cat remained at large. Cafe owners remain hopeful that the animal is hiding inside or near the building, and have asked the public for its help in keeping an eye out for the missing feline. Information and updates about “Cascade” are provided on the cafe’s Facebook page. 

Dawsey Smith, who described her relationship with the area’s business owners as “like family,” said she knew that at least two of the businesses near the scene of the fire were new: BaristaCats had become engaged with preparing their space for their business in November. They opened their doors to the public, as did TeaLux, near the beginning of this year. ReVamp Nutrition will be celebrating its second anniversary in its space in November.

Moving east from the burning buildings, BaristaCats Cafe was closest, then ReVamp Nutrition, followed by TeaLux.

For these business owners, Dawsey Smith said, there was not only the worry of the immediate fire, but the stress that comes with potential damage or other hardships that could cause the closing or loss of their businesses.

“When I arrived, the smoke was dissipating; it wasn’t that thick, black cloud, and the emergency and firefighting crews were beginning to lessen their presence,” Dawsey Smith said. 

“For me, priority one was: Where is everyone and are all the people and cats out of the buildings?” she said. 

Once owners were given permission to go inside the buildings, Dawsey Smith said that in the BaristaCats building, in some places, she could smell smoke.

As a person with allergies, she said, she keeps air purifiers in her home. She brought some of the devices to the cat cafe to help filter the air and remove the smell.

Assessing the activities of the day through the lens of a council person, Dawsey Smith said her thoughts revolved around the provision of municipal services.

She believed, she said, that it was important for community members, and those serving in an elected capacity, to maintain an awareness of the logistics involved with providing the services needed by firefighters and other personnel as they respond to emergencies.

Access to water and streets were high on her list, and, she said, “there are the concerns that come when working in a historical district with buildings with adjoining walls. That brings a whole new dynamic to a situation like that.”

In such scenarios, she said, it is incumbent upon community members to be aware, informed and knowledgable about the community, so that in a given situation, they can respond with an understanding of how first responders function, and what their needs will be, and how to best take that into consideration when making decisions.

“The area on Center Street is not a designated historical district, but the age of it makes it our historical district,” she said. 

She cited buildings within the 100 and 200 blocks of West Main Street, along with others nearby with addresses on Center and Whitewater streets, as among those lending historical ambiance. 

Describing the downtown configuration of streets with historical buildings, she likened it to the “spokes of a wheel.”

The area, which she described as “the core of the historical district,” is often referenced as “the Triangle” because of its shape, she said.

Considering the impact of the fire, she said, “It could have been a lot worse.”

Of the adjoining business owners, she said: “They got lucky because, for them, the fire did not have a direct impact because of how fast it was extinguished.”

She credited the skilled work of the community’s firefighters and other crews brought by mutual aid with the outcome.

Still, she said, for the business owners, it was a day of anguish.

“Mentally, it is really hard to face the end of your business,” she said, adding that business owners work hard to create their spaces and businesses, and circumstances, like the fire, pose a situation where the outcome, she said, “is out of their hands.” 

That was among reasons why she thought it so important to be there, and be supportive of the owners, she said. 

For a business owner, Dawsey Smith said, “you’re always running up hill, and then something happens, and that’s a really big hill, and tomorrow, you have to find a way to keep going.”

The challenges associated with running a business are longterm, she said. 

She added that she hopes members in the community, when they see and interact with businesses, recognize that behind each one is a person who is a part of the community, and, she said, “they are a member of our community as surely as the person who lives next door to you.

“They need more than just financial support,” she said, adding that it is helpful to offer a wave or a greeting as they walk by.

Dawsey Smith left Center Street on Saturday at about 5:30 p.m.

“The last thing I did was to sweep the sidewalk in front of their buildings,” she said, adding that there were small bits of ash and debris left behind by the fire.

“I did anything I thought would be useful,” she said.