Aberdeen burned again, historic downtown in danger

ABERDEEN — Practically everyone around here remembers where they were the night five years ago when the old high school burned down.

So when the sky glowed orange again last Saturday, people rushed downtown to watch as flames hot enough to twist heavy steel ravaged another city landmark, this time the Grays Harbor Equipment Co.

Police shooed spectators off the Chehalis River Bridge because they worried the wind could shift and leave more than charred lumber and bits of history to mourn. Power transformers exploded as smoke and heat wilted a block of South F Street. Embers blew across the street and scorched the city's second-oldest building, which was finally being renovated after moldering for a decade.

This is a city that has seen more than its share of destructive fires, but last weekend's blaze is being called particularly heartbreaking. This time flames have consumed a thriving business in a county that needs all it can get. And a renovators' labor of love was seriously damaged. Luckily, no people were hurt.

At the same time, the fire chief in this city of 17,000 people says this incident could just keep repeating itself in Aberdeen's historic downtown because so many old buildings have fallen into disrepair — the victims of time, absentee landlords and a flat economy.

Aberdeen Fire Chief Dave Carlberg calls them "firefighter killers" — buildings so unstable that if they burned it would be too dangerous to send firefighters inside to put out the fires. But the city simply doesn't have the money to tear them all down.

"Believe me, I lose sleep every night thinking about what could happen," Carlberg said.

At the heart of the city

Fire investigators from the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) went to Aberdeen at the city's request to help sift through the debris and find out what started last weekend's fire.

Grays Harbor Equipment Co. was an industrial hardware store that went from outfitting loggers to supplying plumbers and builders since owner Skip Perry's grandparents opened for business in 1920.

The building, in the heart of old Aberdeen where the Chehalis and Wishkah rivers meet, was built in 1909 but wasn't all that historically significant, Perry said. But it held plenty of history and memories. Perry, now 51, had been working there since high school.

The building and his stock of pipes, pumps, compressors and generators were insured. But the store also held a well-known collection of photos, antique tools and equipment and novelties dating to the 1930s.

"We were having a really good year — our sales were up," Perry lamented as he surveyed the scorched mess.

Across the street, embers set fire to a stack of new floorboards in what everyone calls the Breakwater Seafood building. It was built in 1905, two years after a huge fire consumed seven city blocks of Aberdeen. Originally the headquarters for a logging company, the two-story structure has been a union office, a brothel and home of the seafood company.

In more recent history, members of the local rock band The Melvins practiced upstairs, occasionally jamming with late Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain, Aberdeen's most famous son.

Tearing down a building so rich with city history would be "just like running over an old lady with your car," said Marc Myrsell, 41, who with his wife, Kathryn, purchased the riverfront property last year. The Vancouver, Wash., couple has dreams of a restaurant and art gallery in the spot.

Though three insurance agents refused to cover the building before the fire, and a new, $15,000 roof was lost in the blaze, Myrsell said he's willing to spend the money and time needed to restore his old beauty.

"Despite the pigeon crap, despite the fire, I feel so fortunate to have this building," he said. "We got lucky."

Unfortunately for Aberdeen, not all out-of-town owners are as passionate as the Myrsells about preserving the city's past, said Carlberg, the fire chief.

"We have a lot of out-of-towners who buy buildings as tax shelters and let them go into disrepair," he said. The old beams are tinder-dry, and old wiring threatens to spark.

There's a big difference between old buildings and historic buildings, says Mayor Dorothy Voege.

The city tries to save significant buildings when it can, she said. But when others become eyesores, city employees are forced to track down property owners and try — sometimes with limited success — to recoup demolition costs.

Rebuilding

Meanwhile, though, a lot of Aberdeen residents say last weekend's fire could be an opportunity amid tragedy. And they point to the city's high school as an example.

In January 2002, a couple of local kids set fire to the landmark Weatherwax building on the Aberdeen High School campus.

It "was like a body blow to this community," said Derek Cook, the high school's assistant principal. "It was one of those watershed nights in the town's history."

But afterward, other school districts sent books to restock the library, and the school's loyal alumni donated old yearbooks and other mementos. Local churches set up makeshift classrooms, and students and teachers made the best of cramped quarters in 10 buildings scattered around town.

Now construction workers are putting the finishing touches on a state-of-the-art, 210,000-square-foot high school that was built with insurance money and a $30 million school bond. It will be ready for students in the fall.

When they arrive, they'll also be greeted by huge blocks of carved sandstone that were salvaged from the old Weatherwax façade.

"This town's been forged in some pretty hot flames," Cook said. "But I think Aberdeen rises every time."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com