The Loss of a Ballard Home
A fire of unknown origin destroys a residence on Third Avenue, leaving a local family destitute.
A story-and-a-half frame dwelling on Third avenue and Tina street, Ballard, owned by Mrs. Hilda Larsen, caught fire last night at 12 o'clock and burned to the ground. The loss is estimated at $600, and the insurance on the house and furniture was $400. The origin of the fire is unknown. About 11:45, Mrs. Larsen went out to see a neighbor and at 12 flames were discovered shooting through the roof.
“A story-and-a-half frame dwelling on Third avenue and Tina street, Ballard, owned by Mrs. Hilda Larsen, caught fire last night at 12 o'clock and burned to the ground.”
Fires in small, wood-frame dwellings were a constant, terrifying feature of early life in the Ballard neighborhood. While building codes have evolved, the economic precarity of a house fire—where insurance rarely covers the full cost of survival—remains a recognizable hardship.
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