The Enterprise - White Salmon, Washington

Fire destroys White Salmon gallery, studio

Despite efforts of firemen

Photo by Krista Bakke

AT THE BEGINNING -- Firefighters were on the scene of last week's downtown fire within minutes, containing the blaze to one building.

Jesse Burkhardt

August 05, 2009

For a few hours on the evening of July 29, the business district of downtown White Salmon was transformed into a scene that recalled images of the bombings of London during World War II: Firefighters holding fire hoses were silhouetted against flames, aiming streams of water at burning buildings.

In a dramatic and disheartening blow to the downtown area, an art gallery and photography studio went up in flames Wednesday evening, despite the brave efforts of about 75 firefighters from seven area fire departments.

The fire, at 141 E. Jewett, was reported at about 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, and quickly enveloped the building.

"Within a few minutes of arriving, the front window of the building turned black and was cracking," said White Salmon firefighter Jeff Bruce.

In the end, the century-old building was a total loss, along with the two businesses within: Roz Gallery and Blue Ackerman Photography Studio.

Although saving the burning building quickly became a lost cause, firefighters worked effectively to make sure the two buildings on either side of it -- Everybody's Brewing and Artisan's Jewelers -- did not go up in flames as well. Good fire walls helped.

White Salmon Fire Department Safety Officer Greg Holtman said firefighters worked hard to keep the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings.

"We're lucky we didn't lose the apartments in back of Artisan's," he said. "Hood River used their ladder truck to put water on the roofs of the buildings and at the back."

White Salmon firefighters attacked the fire primarily from the front of the building.

"Our intent was to push everything back," Holtman explained.

Holtman said that when he arrived, he quickly called for evacuations of nearby buildings -- starting with Everybody's Brewing, a tavern next door to the burning building.

"I went in there and said, `You have two minutes to evacuate,'" Holtman said.

Firefighters were working from five fire hydrants, and Holtman estimated the crews were pouring as much as 6,000 gallons a minute onto the burning building.

"We started losing pressure at one point," he said, "but we never ran out of water."

Holtman said the firefighters on the scene were from several fire departments around the area, including White Salmon, Bingen, Husum, Cherry Lane, Underwood, High Prairie, and Hood River.

Firefighters battled the fire until about 3:30 a.m.

"All the crews worked together," he said. "We had a full night."

"It's really devastating," said John Roz, manager of the gallery.

Roz has been featuring artwork from a variety of painters, sculptors, and other artists, whose work was on consignment in the building. All of the art on display was destroyed.

Ackerman, a professional photographer, lost most of her images in the blaze, as well as her lighting equipment.

Although the owner, Kidd Stubbs of Gold Beach, Ore., had insurance on the building, Roz and Ackerman said none of the contents of the building were insured.

"It was impossible to insure," Roz explained. "We used to joke it was a fire trap."

Ackerman said she knew the firefighters did all they could to save the building.

"I want to thank them for all their help and all they did," she said.

Jay Holtmann, the incident commander at the scene, praised the support from local agencies.

"It was great cooperation and teamwork," he said. "I want to offer a big thanks to all the local fire departments for responding. It was a great team effort."

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation. A fire investigator from Vancouver came in last Friday to inspect the charred building.

On Monday, White Salmon Mayor David Poucher said the investigator was virtually certain that the cause of the fire was electrical.

"The investigator was about 99.9 percent sure it was an electrical start," Poucher said.

Poucher applauded the Fire Department for its superlative work in controlling the fire.

"Our Fire Department acted very, very well, and bringing in Hood River's ladder truck for mutual aid was excellent," Poucher said. "Plus, all the other departments showed up and literally saved our bacon."

However, Poucher was angry that some water customers have been overusing water at a time the city has called on everyone to conserve -- leaving the water reservoirs in a precarious state.

The city used about 600,000 gallons of water fighting the fire Wednesday night, and Poucher noted that White Salmon has only about 1 million gallons in its reservoirs.

"We started the day a little low on water," Poucher explained. "Our reservoirs were at approximately 75-80 percent full. We like to have that at around 95-100 percent. These people who insist on a green lawn when we have a water source problem are putting the entire city in jeopardy. The ones using 50,000-100,000 gallons a month to water grass -- we have about 20 of them -- where is their sense of community? They have a green lawn, but we don't have water to fight a fire. Give me a stinking break."

Poucher promised that fines would be forthcoming for those who are not conserving.

"At one time we weren't sure the Fire Department would be able to control it," Poucher added. "If we'd gotten another fire going, oh my gosh. If it had spread and gone into the brewery, it could have taken out the entire block."

Poucher pointed out that Buck Creek is not currently an option as a backup water source.

"We couldn't even take Buck Creek water now because the slow sand filter is being built where the old line used to be," he said.

Artisan's suffered some smoke damage. The jewelry business will have its carpets professionally cleaned, and the owners also planned to repaint the interior.

Nearly a week after the fire, a sign posted on the front of Everybody's explained that the brewery was closed until further notice.

"We suffered extensive smoke and some water damage from the fire next door. We are doing all we can to reopen as quickly as possible," said the sign.

Fire District No. 3 Secretary Mollie Krall said two Gorge companies -- Insitu and Wal-Mart -- went out of their way to help out. Krall said that during the fire, Insitu employees came by with coolers filled with ice, water, and sweet rolls for the firefighters, who were toiling in very hot weather.

The next day, Krall went to Wal-Mart in Hood River to replenish Fire District No. 3's supply of water and Gatorade, and the Wal-Mart manager volunteered to donate all the supplies -- eight cases of water and four cases of Gatorade -- free of charge.

"Everybody depleted all their drinking water that night," Krall said. "Insitu and Wal-Mart were there to help out. It's great they stood behind our community like that."

Roz said he would do what he could to try to compensate artists who had their work on consignment.

"We plan to generate a fundraiser for the artists whose work was lost in the fire," Roz said. "Everyone has been real supportive."

Roz added that he hoped to be able to stay in White Salmon.

"I'll regroup. I like being here," he said.