Burning Down the House: A Seattle Fire Crisis
Decades before Seattle had a reliable municipal water system, a local editor recounts the tragedy of watching a home burn to the ground for want of a hydrant.
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.
It will be remembered that a little over two years ago, parties were informally proposing to erect water works and furnish this city with an abundant supply of water for domestic and irrigating purposes, with a reservoir three hundred feet above tide-water with a sufficient reserve to meet any demand for fire purposes. A franchise for that purpose, it was popularly understood, would vest in the water company exclusive rights. So intense was the prejudice against granting any such exclusive privilege that a majority of the people refused to entertain or consider the proposition on any terms. That put a quietus on the project at that time, and it has not been since renewed by any party. Since then, we have seen several fires. The most elegant and expensive private residence in the city was burning more than an hour in one wing before the fire reached the main building, and in the slow course of three hours was wholly consumed only because not sufficient water could be procured to quench the fire. Last night, the carriage-house and stable of ex-Mayor Gatzert was destroyed by fire. The building was very close to the house and as near to the residence of Dr. A. H. Smith on the other side. If a breath of wind had disturbed the atmosphere, the destruction of both residences would have been almost inevitable with the lack of facilities. The City has entered into a contract for a steam fire engine to cost $4,000, and it meets the popular approval almost unanimously; but anywhere away from the water front, where is the water to come from to supply such an engine for a long fight? The city of Seattle is every day liable to a fire which might destroy more value of property than the cost of water works.
“The city of Seattle is every day liable to a fire which might destroy more value of property than the cost of water works.”
This 1878 editorial perfectly captures the classic Seattle 'growing pains' struggle between private utility monopolies and public infrastructure needs. Today’s debates over the city’s aging utility grid and the funding of emergency services mirror the same high-stakes tension between fiscal caution and the necessity of basic urban survival.
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