Adirondack Daily Enterprise, February 16, 1953
Gas Feeds Blaze As Tanks Burst, Garage A Wreck
The Lakeside Garage and Ryan Fruit Company establishment lie in ruins today with the debris from yesterday's $300,000 fire apparently hiding anything to which the origin of the blaze might be traced.
The fire started in the end of the River street building next to the National Guard Armory where there was a paint shop and the boiler room. "It might have started in either of them," Fire Chief Carl Smith said today," or it may have started in one of the stored cars. I don't believe that anyone can tell exactly."
The loss to Aaron Hoyt of Trudeau road, owner and operator of the garage and Chrysler-Plymouth dealer here, is only an estimate. Mrs. Hoyt, his wife, said the structure contained eight new cars, five used cars, two school busses and two trucks. All were destroyed. The loss is partly covered by insurance.
William Ryan, of the Ryan Fruit Company which occupied the end of the building adjoining the Keough Marine Sales building at 119 River street, estimated his loss at $10,000. One truck destroyed in the fire was his.
Another truck, owned by Hoyt, was the one used by the Parent-Teacher Association Saturday evening in the Winter Carnival Float Parade.
The float was decorated to show a 19th century school room and lost in the blaze were two antique wooden benches used years ago in area school rooms. Also missing to the debris is a 40-year-old brass school bell—the same bell which for that number of years heralded the opening of each of the skating races held here in the village. The bell, it is hoped, will be salvaged.
The fire, fed by gas and oil from exploding tanks, sent roaring flames shooting more than 100 feet into the sky and across River st. to ignite branches of maple trees there. Homes on the opposite side of River st. were scorched by the heat. Great clouds of choking smoke covered the entire Lake Flower avenue section and could be seen from practically every section of town.
ALARM MIXED UP
The first fire alarm sounded at 12:17— bit garbled as to count because a fire box had been pulled at the scene at the same time the siren was being sounded in the fire house. At least three residents of the neighborhood were trying unsuccessfully to telephone the alarm at the same moment.
Every available bit of equipment owned by the Saranac Lake Fire Department was sent into action.
There were 34 volunteers on hand under the direction of Fire Chief Carl Smith. There were many residents on hand who helped the fire-fighters.
Lake Placid sent a pumper truck and 30 men under Chief Bernard Fell and Bloomingdale sent two trucks and 20 men under Chief Ben Rieck. The Bloomingdale pumper was stationed at the Fire House on Broadway to protect the rest of the town in case another fire started.
The Saranac Lake volunteers returned to the Fire House at 5:47 p.m. six of them going back to the fire scene after supper and remaining there until 8:45 p. m. Two men were left at the scene until after midnight.
The first person to note that the garage was ablaze apparently was Mrs. Howard Sheldon, Will Rogers Hospital nurse. While preparing dinner in her home at 116 River street she happened to glance out a window and saw smoke coming from the garage across the street. This was five or ten minutes after 12 o'clock noon.
Failing to get a call through to the Fire Department, she informed the telephone operator about the fire and was told that it was believed the volunteers already had been alerted. By the time Mrs. Sheldon was off the phone, the whole place across the street was a mass of smoke and flames.
Mr. Sheldon then called Mr. Hoyt, proprietor of the place. "Your garage is on fire," Mr. Sheldon told him.
It is?" Mr. Hoyt gasped. He then sped in his car to the scene and over the fire lines to his place of business. By the time he got there the place was a roaring inferno. The fact that the what wind there was blowing in from across Lake Flower and the work of the firefighters prevented the spectacular blaze from doing much more damage than it did. The old wooden Armory was in danger for more than an hour and for a time, while flames were destroying the Ryan Fruit Company place the Keough building was threatened.
By 12:28[?] o'clock the blaze looked as if it might be at its height, but the worst was yet to come. The [illegible] danger to the Armory started
[illegible section]
A second blast followed at 12:33 to be followed a minute later by another. Homes across the street were rocked.
At 12:48 probably the biggest of the explosions occurred. Another came seconds later. With them, the blaze seemed to reach its height and the firemen were not only hampered, but endangered by the intense heat and heavy smoke.
The volunteers were taking water from the fire plugs in River St. and were also pumping from Lake Flower through holes the Saranac Lake and Placid departments cut in the ice.
At 12:47 both ends of roof and a section in the middle burst into flames. Within minutes, the whole roof was blazing. The first part of it caved in at 12:49.
Then a series of explosions occurred—at 1 o'clock, at 1:01, and two just before 1:02. Then five minutes later at 1:07, a big blast rocked the building, caving in part of the side next to the Armory and a section in front.
At this point, National Guardsmen under the command of Lt. John T. Merritt started moving rifles, guns and ammunition out of the Armory.
Two Jeeps, a three-quarter-ton truck and a two and one-half-ton were driven to safety.
At 1:20 it appeared that the tired volunteers had the flames under control and blazing walls were being pushed in as the flames subsided for the moment and the smoke from the ruins grew less.
But at 1:22 another explosion occurred and great clouds of smoke rolled into the air and across River st., completely hiding the firemen. Flashes of flame followed but from then on the volunteers gained headway. The fire was under control by 2 o'clock. The final explosion—comparatively a minor one—came at 3:44 o'clock.
It was Saranac Lake's worst fire since the old Town Hall burned down in 1926.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, February 16, 1953
MID SMOKE AND FLAME
What was until yesterday afternoon the Lakeside Garage was built in 1919 by Walter Cluett and later donated to the Saranac Lake Curling Association. In 1930[?] the property was purchased by A. F. Shortt who sold the garage and auto business to Aaron Hoyt on Jan. 22, 1952[?].
[illegible section]
It didn't happen, but it might have. Hundreds of gallons of gas—stored underground—MIGHT have caused an explosion at the height of the fire that could have just about wrecked the neighborhood. . . and caused any number of casualties among the milling crowd of spectators.
Fire ropes apparently meant nothing to the startled witnesses. Little attention was paid to them. But worse yet was the muttered criticism directed at the village and state policemen who tried to keep things under control. The public, it seems, doesn't know when it is well off.
* * *
And a bit of praise, also to a couple of veteran fire department volunteers. One is from Our Town - Judge Gordon Vosburgh — and the other from Tupper Lake — Dave Anderson. Mr. Anderson, steam-fitter and fireman from our neighboring village, was a house guest of the Judge when the alarm sounded. They reached the fire scene right on the heels of the first fire truck to arrive and from then until the blaze was under control they worked with hoses within feet of the flames and exploding gas tanks. "It was nothing," said Judge Vosburgh. "I'm no longer an active member of the department, but after 30 years experience I sort of know what to expect."
Of course Mayor Alton B. Anderson was there — and soaking wet from fire-hose spray and smelling of smoke . . . "This," said the Mayor, "is terrible — terrible."
Fire Chief Carl Smith was on the phone the first thing this morning asking for an announcement that the fire-fighters appreciated the hot coffee and such that some of Our Town's residents prepared for them.
He mentioned Mr. and Mrs. William Madden who not only prepared coffee for the men manning the hoses but, after the blaze was under control, entertained the Lake Placid volunteers at a "warm-up party" in their home at Pontiac street and Lake Flower avenue. And the Minute Lunch on Broadway sent down gallons of coffee. And the boys themselves — not knowing that others were to be so kind — had purchased coffee that members of the National Guard prepared for them in the Armory.
And there were several other residents in the neighborhood who gave service to the volunteers — Mrs. Howard Sheldon, for example, who opened her home to the men so they could warm up and dry their soaking clothes.
* * *
Carol Hoyt was visiting at the home of Mrs. Lenore Garrant, 12 Ampersand avenue, at the time the fire alarm rang. Mrs. Garrant's son, Bugs, a volunteer fireman, said, "Here I go again" and was off to River st. It wasn't until the announcement came over the Garrant radio that Miss Hoyt knew the fire was at her father's garage.
* * *
The Grand Old Flag was whipping in the wind in front of the Armory when the fire started. . . And it continued to fly for more than half an hour until, at 12:50 p. m., it was hauled down to keep it from catching flames from the blazing building twelve feet away.
Just before that, rifles, guns and ammunition were carried out of the Armory by National Guard . . .
[illegible section]
Police Chief William Wallace was sending cars from Lake Placid over the Payeville road to keep them off Lake Flower avenue. The police chief had been skeet shooting at the Fish and Game Club when he heard about the fire and came to town immediately. Incidentally, all members of the police department were on hand… And the State Police.
Tom Wallace, brother of the police chief, lost his car in the fire. A 2-year-old Buick, it was parked just inside the garage entrance where he had left it an hour before the fire started.
* * *
And, speaking of cars destroyed, there was the Chrysler convertible owned by Alf Ekman, the masseur — the auto that was in a recent collision with a truck between here and Paul Smith's. . . It was in the garage for repairs.
* * *
Also destroyed was a 1951 Kaiser which, was in the garage for a check-up. It was owned by Elger Warner, proprietor of 405 Taxi.
* * *
William Ryan, of the Ryan Fruit Company, wholesalers at 111 River Street, estimated his damage just after the fire was brought under control. "We lost a truck, a freezing compartment and our entire stock," he said. "I can't tell the value of the stock until after we go over the books. But I'd estimate the Ryan Fruit Company loss at about $10,000."
* * *
The Hoyts lost all their bills and records in the blaze. They had been stored in an office on the second floor of the part of the building next to the Armory.
* * *
Traffic between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid — and points between — was stopped two minutes after the arrival of the Saranac Lake fire fighters and it was kept closed until 1:45 p. m. There was a terrific traffic crush at both sides of the area.
[illegible section]
Orchids to Fire Chief Smith, First Asst. Chief Vernon Wamsganz, Second Asst. Donald Thompson, Capt. William Davis, former Fire Chief Willis Currier and a host of others for their fire-fightlng directions — and TO ALL THE LOCAL POLICE AND THE STATE COPS who ignored all danger to themselves while they worked to keep the spectators out of trouble.
The normal temperature during the fire was 30 degrees, but it was much hotter at the scene of the blaze and snow, which continued to fall all afternoon, turned into a mess of slush on River st. There were fourteen private cars parked across the street from the garage when it started blazing. Their owners let them stay there for ten minutes or more. Then, with smoke and flames sweeping across the road, the cars were pushed to safer spots.
* * *
The Keough ambulance arrived soon after the fire started, to be there "just in case". Luckily, ambulance service was not needed.
* * *
As we finish these notes, the "all clear* alarm sounds from the fire house. It is 5:47 p. m. — little less than five and a half hours after the first alarm sounded. That's five and a half hours of death-defying work on the part of volunteers from Our Town, Lake Placid and Bloomingdale. We repeat the word VOLUNTEERS — the North Country couldn't do without them.
