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Show Fire Causes Tremendous Damage to Parowan Store f .,-iv-:. I, f ' T : YlirTr-Vi vP i ' fl vp 'Mf '' & R f " ' ' Stubborn fire of mysterious origin completely com-pletely gutted basement stock room of Parowan Mercantile store Monday. The fire was centered in basement where huge stock of winter merchandise was stored. Basement was completely filled with water before fire was brought under control. View above indicates extent of damage to stock and building. s-s, H V ( v .Aii-tr' i When fire caused main floor of store to collapse, stock of appliances, radios, refrigerators re-frigerators and stoves, was dumped into water filled and burning basement, caus- ing tremendous damage to stock. Fire was one of most costly in many years in this part of state. Cause has not been definitely learned. Fire Razes Parowan Mercantile; Loss Estimated at About $180,000 A fire which started in the early ear-ly hours of Monday morning and ragec' unabated in the basement of the Parowan Mercantile store for several hours, destroyed the greater part of the stock and furnishings fur-nishings in the store and did much damage to the building, with losses set at between $175,-000 $175,-000 and $185,000 by E. J. King, owner and manager of the firm. And following the fire, which was the costliest one in the history his-tory of the community if not in this area, Mr. King stated that plans are already under way for rebuilding the store into one of the largest and most complete department stores in southern Utah. With the loss covered by insurance, work is to commence immediately on the rebuilding program, Mr. King states. The fire, which was discovered just before 4 a. m. by Charles Burton, started in the basement and the actual flames were held there by the efforts of members of the volunteer fire departments of both Parowan and Cedar City. But, being unable to get into the building and to the scene of the blaze, it raged in the basement until the main floor collapsed, taking the greater part of the stock on that floor into the basement, base-ment, which had to be filled with water to put out the fire. The dense smoke defied the efforts ef-forts of the firemen, under the leadership of S. M. Clark, local chief, and Marion Grames. Cedar fire chief, and it was several hours before enough water could be pumped into the basement to put the fire out. The Bank of Iron County build ing north of the store, and the U S post office building on the south, sustained little or no damage dam-age during the fire, it is understood. under-stood. Solid brick partitions separated sep-arated these building from the store building. ! The basement held heavy stocks of merchandise, much of which had arrived just recently in preparation for the winter season, sea-son, and all was destroyed. The clothing and shoe departments on the south side, and the canned can-ned goods department on the north side of the main floor suffered suf-fered the least damage, but were heavily hit by water and smoke. The drygoods, hardware and appliance ap-pliance departments on the main floor all went into the basement when the floor collapsed. Agents of the insurance companies com-panies were here Tuesday and Wednesday taking stock of the losses and preparing their reports, re-ports, and determining what to do with what stock could be sal-(Continued sal-(Continued on Page 15) MERC. FIRE (Continued from Page One) vaged. We understand they arranged ar-ranged with Mr. King to conduct the sale of this part of the stock in the near future. What caused the fir? is still a mystery. The store had been entered by burglars Saturday night and an attempt made to open the safe but the burglars were unsuccessful. Law officers j hud spent several hours Sunday checking the store for clues, and report that nothing else was missing as far as could be determined. deter-mined. Those who arrived at the scene of the fire first are said to have reported that the back door of the building was open with some of the lights on when they arrived. By the time the fire was out little could be determined as to where it started or the cause. Mr. King already has contractors contrac-tors making preparations to rebuild re-build the store, with the walls to be reinforced and the inside to be rebuilt entirely. Work on the project is to start as soon as the building can be cleared of the fire rubble, and the owner hopes to be able to re-open the store within three months, or at least by Christmas time. |