Harrington Warehouse Fire

Harrington Warehouse Fire

Submitted by Marge Womach

Two fires listed:

July 21, 1932

“Fire about 5:30 p.m. Monday destroyed the warehouse of the Odessa Union Warehouse Company at Harrington, a structure composed of two warehouses, a wooden one 150 by 50 feet, joined end to end with a corrugated metal building 150 by 60 feet, paralleling the Great Northern railway tracks on the east side, and setting about 20 feet north of the corrugated metal warehouse and elevator of the United Grain Growers, Inc. Smoke from the burning warehouse was plainly visible in Davenport and a number of local people drove to Harrington and saw part of the fire before it was checked. The veering of the wind from the west to the southwest at a critical time is all that checked a general fire in the northeastern part of Harrington, where there were a number of residence buildings and the grade and high school buildings directly in the path of the flame. Besides the warehouse, the Odessa Union, lost two electric pilers, eight hand trucks, an adding machine, scale and about 8000 bushels of wheat. The company’s loss is about $9000 partly covered by insurance. In addition, two new Great Northern freight cars, on a siding beside the warehouse, were burned and the intense heat caused such a strong expansion of the steel rails that the tracks buckled at one place and forced ties and rails more than 18 inches out of alignment. The fire was intensely hot and the residence of Marshal Jim McKinnon, in the path of the smoke and flames, to the east, was in danger. The wood shed, barn, chicken house and 40 chickens and garage at the place did burn. Fields of weeds burned and the residence of John S. Taylor, Jr., almost a block east, caught fire several times. Each time the fire was extinguished. Only heroic efforts of the volunteer fire fighters, in the face of blistering flames and dense smoke, saved the McKinnon residence and the warehouse of the United Grain Growers, Inc. It was one of the town’s hottest fires and within five minutes after the fire bell rang the whole wooden roof of the north half of the Odessa Union warehouse was a mass of flames, fanned by a stiff breeze from the west. Ed Huber, one of the nozzlemen, suffered a badly scorched neck.”

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“WIND DESTROYS STAR BARN”

Davenport Times: July 2, 1970

An old Harrington landmark was destroyed in a windstorm Friday evening. The old Star Barn, as it was called, was reportedly hit by a funnel cloud and collapsed on several thousands of dollars worth of farm machinery inside. The building, which was 235 feet long and 60 feet wide, belonged to Mrs. James Carstens and was being used by her son, Robert Carstens. It was built around the turn of the century and originally housed 90 mules used for farming then. For many years it has also served as a point for giving directions in the Harrington rural area. Carstens said he does not plan on salvaging the building and expects to burn it. (article has picture of collapsed barn.)

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Harrington Fires, Harrington, Washington, submitted to the

WAGenWeb by Marge Womach

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