The Tucson Fire Department was sent to a popular restaurant and bar in Downtown Tucson on Saturday, July 19, 2025, as officials say HighWire Tucson caught fire.
The TFD arrived to HighWire at around 1 p.m. after they said a small lithium battery exploded and set fire to an area behind one of the bars.
HighWire district manager, Justin Olson, said that he was not at the bar at the time of the incident, but was alerted to the fire through the company’s alarm system, where he saw video of the fire start.
“[The video] cut out right as the flame was getting really big. The last image I saw was a big burst of flames,” said Olson.
The building’s sprinkler system was immediately triggered, putting out most of the fire before TFD arrived on the scene.
“We were all kind of freaking out wondering how much damage there was actually gonna be back there,” said Olson. “Come to find out it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.”
As required by the Pima County Health Department, HighWire will have to disinfect everything in the building and get rid of any open bottles that were out before re-opening that building. That’s something Olson said will happen quickly.
“We are going to be expediting this as fast as we possibly can,” said Olson. “Nothing’s gonna change here at Highwire. Everything will still be running as normal. We’ll still have all the fun for everybody to come on in here and party it up.”
HighWire did open parts of their bar back up on Saturday night, just hours after the incident, as the fire only affected one structure and little damage was done. Olson said he plans on HighWire being fully open and running as normal by Friday July 25, for their “Friday Nights at HighWire.”