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FRIDAY HARBOR FIRE |
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Firefighters applied foam to the China Pearl which didn't burn but sustained some water damage. The building on the corner of A Street and First, home to Salon Capella and other businesses, was also spared. The fire was contained by 6:30 p.m. Everyone was safely evacuated and no one was hurt during the blaze. Charles Thomas, owner of China Pearl, opened up his Shogun restaurant to be used as a Red Cross Station. Paramedic Jim Ricks said the EMTS were checking out firefighters for heat problems or dehydration. Everyone was OK, he said. Deputies were opening one lane of the first block of Spring Street late last night and ferry loading and unloading was expected to return to normal operation Friday. Ferry traffic was directed up A Street during the fire. | ||
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Firefighters apply foam to China Pearl restaurant on Spring Street.
China Pearl restaurant is covered with foam to save it from the fire. Rick Galer photo
The fire was visible from the ferries. |
Julie Werling, a co-owner of San Juan Florist with her sister Lisa, was concerned about filling orders for Mother's Day -- traditionally flower-sellers' busiest time of the year. The business plans to fly in flowers to meet some of the 130 orders they've taken so far. "For some reason, I have to do this," Stump said. Werling also hopes to be in a new home soon. "We may have gotten burnt but we're not broken," she said. Gordy Petersen, owner of the building since 1989, said, "This is a total loss," but noted all the shopkeepers were insured. "I feel a lot better that it's only a building. If somebody was hurt I'd be feeling a lot different," Petersen added. "Hopefully we can get the thing cleaned up, find what's left to salvage, if anything, and start to rebuild it," Petersen said. "That would be my plan." Residents on the town's water system might have cloudy water that can stain some clothes, said Friday Harbor Mayor Gary Boothman. The town's old water tank is empty while being repaired and its newer tank was drained fairly low during the firefighting. |
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Water treatment plant workers "will be making water all night," Boothman said. The water is being treated to state standards of course, but since it is moving faster through the system, sediment may be stirred up in certain parts of town. Workers are flushing water through the hydrants in those areas to clear up the sediment. The structure was built in the early 1960s, said Friday Harbor historian Tony Surina. It housed grocery stores -- Whitey's and Scribner's before that. Fire isn't new to the site. A blaze also consumed the structures on the same corner in 1943, said former Friday Harbor Mayor Jim Cahail. Firefighters at that fire also saved structures where the China Pearl and the building at First and East streets now stand. 
Cahail also recalled another devastating fire in Friday Harbor's core. That one consumed the San Juan Agricultural Company on the Friday Harbor waterfront 40 years ago. He recalled hosing down fuel tanks that stood upland of the blaze, that was being pushed that way. In another twist, San Juan Florist's owners had just replaced a cooler that survived the Gollywobbler fire. The restaurant stood on the site of the Friday Harbor House until burning in the 1980s. "We get rid of it (the cooler) and then we burn down," Werling said. We will continue to update the story and add photos as they become available. |
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