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Show Fire Destroys Pamguiiclta. Main Street Stores PANGUITCH Saturday night's fire gutted S&C Merc at 61 North Main and destroyed approximately approxi-mately 90 percent of merchandise in the Sears Catalog Store next door. Brisk winds caused the fire to seriously seri-ously threaten other nearby busi-nesses.as busi-nesses.as Panguitch City's volunteer volun-teer firefighters brought the conflagration confla-gration under control. Fortunately, no one was injured in the fire in which firefighters used self-contained breathing apparatuses extensively exten-sively for protection. The roof of S&C collapsed in the smoldering fire which, though destructive, never fully reached the free-burning stage. Alan Sawyer stopped at the sheriffs office and reported smoke at S&C to dispatcher dis-patcher Danny Perkins at 8:38 p.m. Perkins paged local firefighters, most of whom were at a basketball game at Panguitch High School. Within minutes, some 20 firefighters fire-fighters had arrived. They attempted at-tempted to ventilate the fire from the roof. When oxygen was introduced, intro-duced, a "flashover" occurred, blowing blow-ing out the front windows of S&C and forcing it over into Sears. For a brief time, there were flames but firemen contained them quickly. Intense heat caused extensive melting melt-ing and scorching. Exploding ammunition am-munition stored at the front of S&C caused some tense moments. Fire Chief Russell Bulkley said his department deployed two trucks to the site directly across Main Street from the fire station. They placed the mini-pumper at the rear of the burning building ad the larger, newer 1250 gallons per minute pumper truck directly in front. Gas and power companies were contacted to disengage lines to the building. Heavy smoke required use of SCBA to enter the building to fight hot spots. Fire Chief Russell Bulkley said his department had 19 SCBAs and had only recently received re-ceived 30 tanks of oxygen and a new compressor to refill the tanks. Bulkley commended bystanders who assisted with moving heavy fire hoses and were ready if help was needed to empty other nearby stores of their merchandise should the fire spread. The roof of S&C collapsed over the area where the fire started. State Fire Marshal Brent Halladay, accompanied ac-companied by Mark Atkinson from that Salt Lake City office, arrived at 10 Sunday morning to investigate the origin of the fire, standard procedure pro-cedure in cases where loss is substantial. sub-stantial. Tentative conclusions are that the fire started from a ballast in a fluorescent electric light fixture which, as it began to wear out, overheated, charring wood in the ceiling. Owners Rick and Sherrie Burn-ingham Burn-ingham who purchased S&C 17 years ago and Sears two years ago, said the S&C structure was built in 1934 and owned by Tom Schow and Jed Cooper. Rick Bumingham said he lost some very valuable antiques an-tiques in the fire, including old Winchester guns and oak cabinets and fixtures that cannot be replaced. By midnight, the fire had been knocked down. Tanks of oxygen were refilled and replaced on the fire trucks. The trucks were refueled and readied for immediate deployment deploy-ment in case of another fire. By 12130 a.m., they were fully opera-See opera-See Fire Destroys Page 2A ! x A- V l i '- ? r- ; ; , j - " 'JJLW "' " 111 11 j ? X I ... . t j j " i. . ' ' is, .v ., . s. 1 A r ;; , j , . . i -L.i iV 7 "'"'y , ( v 1 " j j . s - t : r r v- i Lr 1 i Smoke pours from S&C Merc as firemen battle Saturday night blaze that destroyed S&C and Sears Catalog Store on Main Street in Panguitch. Officers blocked highway traffic several hours while fire fighters battled blaze that left no one injured. Fire Destroys Two Stores From Paere 1 tional again. In the meantime, law enforcement enforce-ment personnel and Jeeps Posse members stayed at the fire scene all night to secure the scene for the next morning's investigation and from any potential looting and to watch for any fire flare-ups. The fire did flare ud s jain about 1 a.m., and a fire truck was dispatched again to the scene. Family and friends were on hand later in the morning to board up windows and entrances. Chief Bulkley said his department's depart-ment's operation was an offensive one from the outset. He said they never found themselves in a defensive defen-sive situation at all points. He said i his volunteer firefighters had bene fitted from and applied their training well, going about their operations with precision movements and timing. tim-ing. He was grateful there was no loss of life and no injuries. . Bulkley said the fire department had learned much from past fires, from on-going training and from following up on fires in other communities. He said they had talked extensively with the people who fought the fire in the Logan area at the Cache Cheese Factory. He said that they lacked sufficient water to fight the fire and a faster, self-contained way to quickly refill oxygen tanks for firefighters, both advantages that the Panguitch Department De-partment now has and benefitted from in Saturday's fire. |