The Wrangell sentinel., 1947-06-13
THE CANNERY FIRE


 On Of the worst blows WrangelI has experienced in many a day hit here last Monday evening when Farwest- WrangeI c6nnery burned, an almost total loss. Old timers said it was a disaster cobparable to the fire of 1906 when half the town went lip in smoke. It's economic loss to the town is tremendous es- peeially coming on top of the mill being shut down and the recent strike, for Wrangell is and always has been a town mainly dependent on "the silver horde" for it's pros perity.
 However, it is refreshing to sec the spirit of the people and of MT. A. R. Bruger, one of the cannery's Operators( who arrived by plane from Seattle Tuesday noon. With neveF-say-die attitude Mir. Brueger viewed the ashes and immdiatly began planning to open the old Burnett cannery to replace Far west. It will mean added expense in machinery and labor but Wran- gell would have a pack. Mir. Brueg- CT has faced difficulties before but he has never let Wrangeldl down.
 WrangePs fire department de- serves boundless credit for the ex- cellent work done in what was ob- viously a hopeless situation. The flames, which started in a ware house behind the mess hall, famed by a brisk seast wind and fed by inflammable contents of the build ing, spread over the whole cannery within a matter of minutes. Fight ing against the almost unbearab'e heat, WrangelPs firemen somehow. and we'll never understand h0 ., succeeded in saving not only close ly surrounding homes, but the bunkhouse and mess hal of the cannery. To the fire fighting fore es was added the willing efforts of many of the towns citizens to take directions from Fire Chief Grant. Women of the town were helping to carry furniture, bedding, dishes and food from houses which could be threatened; everyone was gv- ing a hand where needed.
 Wrangll's fire department was up against heavy odds. Water pres sure was practically nil. The four inch mains supplying the cannery were entirely inadequate to com bat the flames. Mayor Doris Barnes has long preached a new water system for Wrangell It is irontc that pipe ordered long ago, and de layed < because of the steamship strike and other difficulties, ar- rived only on the last freighter
 High praise is also due the Grommett Reefer, skippered by the well known, genial Captain Larry Parks. The vessel, moored to the mill dock at the time the fire broke out, moved over to the Far west, where every man of the crew turned to with the ships fire fighting equipment and by their generous and unselfish effort the end of the dock and $21,000 worth of trap equipment were saved Captain Parks is proud of his men he said, they dropped everything and took turns fighting"
 Capt. Parks had more than pass ing interest in Farwest- -Wrangcll He helped in it's construction when it was rebuilt by Karl Theile twenty years ago. The GrommetI Reefer's fine work will be long r. membered by folks of Wrangell and Mayor Barnes has sent letters of thanks to Captain Parks and the Alaska transportation Company W hich operates he vessel.
 But Wrangell will have ltyI water system, to prevent such dls asters in the future and it Will have a fish pack this year, if It's in MT. Brueger's power to do so.
 Mayor Barnes expressed the spirit of the people of the town when she said after the fire: "In the burning of the Farwesl cannery We people of WrangeIi have suffered a loss which touch s each and every one of us. But let us take heart, and with our gonn will, friendly interest and hara work help rebuild salmon caE~ nery for Wrangell."