Pomeroy Washington Conflagration - July 18, 1900

On July 18, 1900, an accidental fire started in a saloon in downtown Pomeroy Washington and destroyed almost half of the town. During fire suppression efforts four people were overcome by heat, and several others sustained minor injuries, no fatalities were reported. The cost of the damages was estimated to have been at least $135,800 (in 1900 dollars). Pomeroy, located in Garfield County in southeastern Washington was the center of an agricultural region.

Pomeroy’s economic base was agriculture, and was booming in the summer of 1900; just 22 years old it was experiencing a population boom with new buildings being constructed.

Wednesday afternoon, July 18, 1900, a fire broke out at E. J. Rice’s Saloon on Main Street. Rice and an associate were filling a gas light generator tank in the saloon. They had put some gasoline into an open container, and some of it spilled onto the floor. Evidently Kirby forgot the hazard, and struck a match. The gasoline fumes in the room flashed igniting the gasoline container. Flames quickly spread through the building creating a thick cloud of smoke and fire that shot out of the north end of the building halfway into the street. Firefighters that arrived at the scene minutes later with two hose carts and a hook and ladder truck noted the entire front of the saloon was ablaze.

The Chief and his firefighters worked “manfully,” the wooden buildings on either side of the saloon were “rapidly licked up like a large quantity of shavings”. The buildings east of the saloon suffered from the fire the most. Stiff westerly winds fanned the flames soon devouring the County Courthouse and spreading to the remaining buildings east of the courthouse on the north side of Main except for a blacksmith shop and a wagon shop.

At least 39 businesses were damaged or destroyed. Pomeroy made an amazing recovery from the conflagration. Shortly before the fire, city council passed a resolution requiring all new construction downtown to be of fireproof material. Even after seeing the destruction of this conflagration some people tried to repeal the new law to allow wooden structures to be built. The Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company granted a 1/3 reduction in freight rates for shipping building materials for 2 months to assist in rebuilding efforts.
Within 4 years a large majority of the business district had been reconstructed, in bigger and better fashion, showing a great benefit from the fire and reconstruction.