From
the Sandusky Evening Star, Saturday, April 18, 1903
The Losses:
Hermes & Scott, fish warehouse, $5,000; no
insurance
W.C. Heyman, fish warehouse and contents, $6,000; no
insurance
W.C. Heyman, ice house, $500; no insurance
C.A. Weichel, stock of ice, $500; no insurance
V. Fries estate, barn and lumber, $1,000; fully
insured
For
a time, Friday afternoon, the village of Huron was threatened with a most
disastrous fire, which seemed likely to sweep the river front and spread to
business blocks. The dying down of the
wind, however, prevented such a disaster, and the blaze was practically
confined to four buildings, the lumber yards being saved. The total loss is estimated at about $12,000
or $13,000, with but little insurance being given above.
The
fire broke out in the fish and twine warehouse of Hermes and Scott, on the
river front, near the Fries lumber yards, and spread rapidly. A half dozen people saw the blaze break out
about 4:30 and turned in the alarm. How
the fire started no one knows. A puff of
black smoke suddenly burst out of a window on the first floor, and in another
moment the building was a mass of flames.
No one had been near the building, and no fire was near the place, so
far as is known. The day before, a large
quantity of nets and twine had been freshly tarred and stored in the building,
and this burned like tinder.
Huron
has no fire department to speak of.
There is one little hand engine and a supply of hose, and a volunteer
company, of which Henry Shaffer is chief.
The firemen turned out in good order, and soon had the little engine
manned, but the sickly stream of water thrown was of no avail. The flames rapidly spread to the large fish
warehouse of W.C. Heyman, and also to Heyman’s ice house. When it was seen that the fire was likely to
spread to the lumber yards, an urgent appeal for help was sent to
Sandusky. It required time to make up a
special train and get the big steamer loaded on, but a quick run was made and
by 5:45, the Sandusky firemen were on hand and ready for business. By that time, however, the fire was well
under control, and there was nothing to do but turn a stream onto the ruins and
keep the fire in check as a precaution against a possible high wind.
Huron
will feel the loss by fire severely. In
both fish houses, there were quantities of twine which were destroyed. The ice, owned by C.A. Weichel, was
considerably damaged and may be worthless.
It is not likely that the warehouses will be rebuilt, and this makes the
loss the more severe for Huron people.
They consider themselves fortunate; however, in that the fire came at a
time when there was little wind, for had the strong north wind of the last few
days been blowing, nothing would have saved the lumber yards and many buildings
in the vicinity.
It
was the hard work of the Huron firemen and citizens that saved much loss in the
lumber yard. Before the steamer arrived
from Sandusky, the blaze had spread to a barn adjoining the lumber piles. On the second floor of this barn was stored a
quantity of fine lumber. As the lower
part of the barn was burned away, the floor fell. Then men went to work tearing down parts of
the burning building and removing the lumber.
One pile of lumber was also torn down, and this prevented a further
spread of fire. At one time, the large
lumber ware house was on fire, so great was the heat, but this blaze was
extinguished. The loss to the Fries
estate will not exceed a thousand dollars.
Two
vessels, the tug Industry and the barge Columbia were lying in the river
adjoining the fish houses, but they were not in much danger at any time.
The
fire attracted a great crowd of people, and cars running to Huron from both
east and west carried many people. When
the Sandusky steamer was started, there was a novel sight for the Huron
folks. Their chief regrets that the
firemen did not reach them earlier.
