Winter Fire Hazards Destroy Snohomish Block
A saloon lunch counter grease fire guts multiple buildings in the freezing cold, prompting calls for a permanent fire department.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Fire broke out in the Great Northern saloon, corner of First street and Avenue A in Snohomish, at 4:30 o'clock this afternoon, entirely destroying the building. The fire burned with fury for nearly an hour, and it was thought for a while that the blaze would sweep the entire row of buildings on the south side of the street. Later, Kirk's big furniture store, which joined the saloon on the east side, caught fire and was entirely gutted by flames in thirty minutes' time. The fire is supposed to have started from a grease pot in the Great Northern saloon lunch counter. The loss on the saloon is $1,000, fully insured. Kirk's loss is $5,000, with $2,000 insurance. But for the snow which covered the buildings, this would have been a far more serious fire for the city. It is thought Snohomish will now take warning and organize a fire department.
“But for the snow which covered the buildings this would have been a serious fire for the city.”
In 1893, Snohomish lacked a formal fire department and relied on the luck of heavy snow to keep conflagrations from destroying the entire town. Today, Snohomish maintains a robust fire district and historic preservation codes to ensure that 19th-century frame buildings don't suffer the same fate.
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