Spokane’s Ashes Hold a Lesson for Yakima
After a massive fire devastated Spokane, the Herald argues that wide streets and low-rise architecture are the only true defense against the region's high winds.
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.
Again we must chronicle a terrible conflagration. Spokane, the metropolis and pride of Eastern Washington, has just had its business and wealthiest portion swept out of existence by the fire fiend. There must be, and there is, some explanation for these too oft-repeated disasters. The fire service in all these cities had been proven sufficient on all ordinary occasions. We seek for an explanation and find it in the cities themselves. In northern localities at this season, there are periodic high winds. All the cities suffering so severely build lofty buildings and narrow streets. The flames formed an arch of fire across the street. It is apparent then, that we must occupy more territory in our cities if we would escape occasional destruction by fire. Broad streets and low brick or stone buildings must be the rule in these windy sections. The law should permit no thoroughfare, in any city, to be less than one hundred feet wide, and twenty feet additional would be an invaluable precaution against fire.
“Broad streets and low brick or stone buildings must be the rule in these windy sections.”
This 1889 editorial reflects a classic urban planning debate born of tragedy. While modern fire codes have replaced the need for 120-foot wide streets, the tension between dense, vertical development and civic safety remains a constant in growing cities like Yakima.
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