The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1923-05-25
0RVILLE VISITED
BY ANOTHER FIRE
Bakery and Barber Shop In Center Of
Business District Badly ScOrched
at Noon Sunday.

just at uuOu ouHudy' llTc pIOhc Uul
In the rear of the Oroville Bakery,
situated in a frame building on the
east side Of Main street, near the cor
ner OF First avenue, and separated
from the odd Fellows building by a
25-foOt vacant lot. The bakery, owned
and operated by Ray Weed, occupied
the south half Of the building and Sid
Swartwood had barber shop in the
north half. The wall of the siren
drew large crowd to the scene where
the flames and dense clouds of smoke
had almost instantly swept through
the building to the west and had ig-
nited the front, while smoke and
flames were bursting through the east
end near where the fire originated
so inflammable was the building Lo-
Gated in the heart of the business
section, to the crowd 1t looked as
though not only was the building
doomed but that the large Odd Fellows
hall was in jeopardy.
The fire truck responded promptly
and two lead Of hose were laid, one
from the hydrant at the corner of
Main and Railroad avenue and another
from the hydrant at the corner of
Main and First avenue. Under the ad-
! mirable direction of Chief Fred Hart
two heavy streams were directed in
front and rear of the building and in
a very few minutes the fire was un-
der control and within half an hour
the fire was entirely extinguished, but
not until the interior of the bakery was
badly charred and the contents consul
med or ruined THE front of the barber
| shop escaped damage except through
\ the flood of water, but the rear rooms
were gutted, entailing considerable
loss to the occupant.
The cause of the fire is mystery.
There had been no fire in The nakery
all day. Mr.. Weed was engaged in
mixing bread in the rear room Of the
building when some boys asked 20 see
a litter OF pups he had in - shed Q
few feet back of the bakery. He had
not been out of doors five minutes
when he noticed smoke rolling out of
the roof followed by flames, and ae had
time to save only suit case and few
articles OF no appreciable value from
the building. Willing hands jerked the
fixtures out of the barber shop, and
as usual In such cases considerable
damage to the property resulted. 1t
has been intimated that the fire may
have been caused by defective electric
wiring. Perhaps the cause can never
be satisfactorily established, but the
fact remains the same that the flames
fed swiftly upon the inflammable ma
terial OF which the building was con-
structed' This is shown by statements
or two or three citizens who had pass
ed the building hardly a minute be-
fore the alarm was sounded and they
did not notice the presence of fire.
Mr.. SwartwOOd carried a policy for
$500 In the Fire and Marine Insur-
ance company represented by Percy
Walker. MIR. Weed was insured in the
Pacific States in the sum of $500. J.
w. Frank, the owner of the building,
was insured for $3.50 in the Hartford
and $3.50 in the Newark, all these COM
panies represented by Dell Hart. The
loss falls especially heavy upon Mr.
and Mrs. Weed. All their furniture and
fixtures were destroyed. They had a
considerable stock Of flour, lard and
other materials on hand wlich was a
total loss. A wallat containing some
bills and checks and warrants
amounting to some $50 were scorched
lbut possibly not beyond redemption
1t Is a hard blow to the Weeds as this
is the second time they have been
burned out within about IS months, as
they lost everything at the time the
old Peerless block, at the corner OF
Main street and Central avenue Was
destroyed by fire.
There is one redeeming feature about
TINS fire. The building as it stood was
frame structure and always a men
, ace to the surrounding property. Mr.
Frank announces that he will proceed
at once to erect new brick building
J on the lot 25x70 feet, which will be 3
neat addition to that part of MAR
: street, another improvement for tlt
: new year and it may have the effec
. OF stimulating others to do likewise.