Nathaniel V. Breaux, owner of Harris Avenue Cafe and The Old Independent Coffeehouse, is confirmed to be missing following a fire that gutted a historic Fairhaven building, City of Bellingham Communications Director Janice Keller confirmed Sunday evening.
“We’re hoping to account for their whereabouts,” Keller said in a phone interview. “That’s all we have available for today.”
Earlier on Sunday, Bellingham Fire Chief Bill Hewett had confirmed one person who was reported to work in the Terminal Building was “unaccounted for.”
The fire that destroyed the historic building at Harris Avenue and 11th Street late Saturday night, Dec. 16, remains under investigation.
Hewett said the building is unsafe to enter, and investigators have been unable to search for potential victims inside.
“Our No. 1 priority is still trying to shore up the building so then we can make access in there, to do a thorough search — and if there is anybody in there, be able to recover them,” Hewett said.
No injuries or other missing persons have been reported, according to a city news release.
The fire destroyed Harris Avenue Cafe and Old Independent Coffeehouse, formerly Tony’s Coffee, in addition to several offices on the second floor.
Building owners ‘devastated’
Jim Hestad and Kirke Mahy Hestad co-own the Terminal Building with Jim’s parents, Mary Lou and George Hestad.
“We are devastated by the fire that consumed the Terminal Building of Fairhaven,” Jim and Kirke said in a joint statement to Cascadia Daily News. “This is a space we love and have put our hearts into for the past 21 years.”
The Hestads said in their statement they are thinking of the health and well-being of their tenants, and are “indebted” to the fire crews who “have worked long [hours] in very cold temperatures.”
They also noted the “outpouring of love and support” for The Old Independent Coffeehouse, formerly Tony’s, as people shared memories of the building and business dating back to the ’70s.
“She was a gem,” Jim and Kirke said of the building.
Dirty Dan Harris Steakhouse, next door to the Terminal Building on 11th Street, is closed until further notice. Other businesses in Fairhaven were operating normally Sunday, during the height of holiday shopping season.
Completed in 1888, the Fairhaven Terminal Building was the oldest surviving continuously occupied commercial building in Fairhaven, according to the city’s release.
On the scene Sunday afternoon, Mayor Fleetwood called the fire “devastating.”
“It was the heart of Fairhaven. It’s really, really sad,” he said.
CDN assistant editor Audra Anderson contributed to this report.
