Tallow Fire Destroys Slaughterhouse
A kitchen accident at a tallow rendering plant ruins the Dircksen slaughterhouse; bucket brigade saves nearby property.
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.
The slaughterhouse in the east part of town, owned by Wm. Dircksen and leased by Frank Spofford, burned to the ground Tuesday afternoon. While the fire department and neighbors formed a bucket brigade to protect adjacent buildings, the structure itself was a total loss. The fire originated in the fat rendering room when a kettle of tallow ignited while Mr. and Mrs. Spofford were working. This marks the second fire-related loss for the proprietors, whose market on Second Street was destroyed last winter.
“The flames spread so rapidly that within a very few minutes the entire building was ablaze.”
Before modern fire codes, industrial fires were frequent and devastating to small-town businesses. The recurring misfortune of these business owners echoes the precarious nature of local commerce in early 20th-century Kennewick.
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