As soon as Debbie Self received calls about a plane crash near Stooges Bar & Grill, the bar she has owned for more than 40 years, she left a cousin's birthday dinner at the Texas Roadhouse and drove toward the billowing dark clouds in the sky. She noticed the smell of smoke from about three miles away before she could get a good look up.
“I thought, 'Oh my God, this is bad,'” Self, 76, told the Courier Journal.
Although she couldn't get near the building at 7123 Grade Lane, which was among the businesses closest to the fatal UPS cargo plane crash site, she heard from a bartender Tuesday night that everyone at Stooges had been safely evacuated.
Then Self turned on the television and, like others across the city and around the world, watched the horrific scene that has left at least nine people dead and critically injured more to date.
“It looked like it was taking over my building,” Self said of her sports bar, a popular hangout for Ford and UPS Worldport employees who work nearby. “It really did.”
Beneath the roaring smoke and fire, she could still see her white building with a green roof and volleyball courts in the backyard, where guests usually wave excitedly at the planes flying overhead.
“I can’t believe it’s still there,” she said.
Family members, friends, customers and viewers couldn't believe it either, as evidenced by the hundreds of calls and messages Self received.
And when Gov. Andy Beshear told CNN News Central on Wednesday that the situation “could be a lot worse,” he recognized that the crash narrowly missed buildings like Stooges.
“It’s hard to lose nine or more people in such a violent way,” Beshear said. “But let me tell you, that plane narrowly missed a restaurant bar.”
A Facebook post by Stooges, written around 6 p.m. on Tuesday, November 4th, asking for “prayers that Stooges doesn't get hit” and “prayers for the pilots and their families and all first responders” has drawn more than 2,000 reactions.
As of Wednesday morning, Stooges is still intact, although Self does not know the extent of the damage to the building. Emergency responders denied her access to Grade Lane or near her facility starting at 7 a.m., she said.
“It looks like Stooges is in a war zone,” she said. “That’s what it looks like to me.”
On Wednesday morning, Self also updated the bar's 20,000 Facebook followers, saying, “Stooges appears to be OK, but we haven't been allowed back in yet.” The shop will remain closed until further notice.
For now, Self said she worries about the future of her company, her longtime customers, her employees and her city.
“My heart was so heavy,” she posted on Facebook.
During a break from talking on the phone and watching the “devastation” Tuesday, Self said she sat down and bawled her eyes out. And she prayed, which she says she will continue to do.
“It’s one of the worst things I’ll ever go through,” she said. “I never want to experience something like that again. I'm so sorry for the loss of a life. It's heartbreaking.”
Reach reporter Amanda Hancock at ahancock@courier-journal.com.