The big fire was ten years ago…..

Friday Harbor Grocery in flames: May 9, 2002. (Photo by Tim Dustrude for the Update)

It was a surreal thing – to see a big chunk of the town you love going up in flames.

On Thursday, May 9th, back in 2002, I had just taken my son to his job after school & then run back to the house when I got a call from a friend at the Port: “Come now – the town’s on fire.”

Tim Dustrude was working with me at By Design at that time, and we grabbed a camera (here are his photos from the afternoon, with the last photos of the town the way it used to be) & went downtown, where we saw the beginnings of the fire which would consume most of the block on First Street & its shops, and take all night to put out.

The Seattle Times online edition featured a photo by Tim just an hour after the fire was reported...click here for a larger version.

Fire engines came from all over this island, and from the other islands to keep a steady stream of water suppressing the flames. Afternoon baseball games were continued at the elementary field, as people watched the plume from town grow & grow from there & different parts of the island. Our police & fire folks coordinated the response & worked together, both on the fire & keeping people safe – no one was hurt, and the crowds stayed a safe distance away.

In a number of ways, we were lucky. The fire was in the afternoon, which meant it received a quick response, and it was a calm day. A windy day (or worse, early morning with no emergency response) would have meant flaming debris carried to other parts of our wooden structures.

Here’s the account from the Update that I posted that day & the next day, with photos.

Early the next morning, my sons & I went to see the smoldering remains of the block in the just-rising morning sun.

When it was over, the block was gone, with The Trading Company & China Pearl both still standing & undamaged as bookends to the damage (firewalls really work!)

Landmark Friday Harbor Grocery (owned at that time by Ray Bigler) was known as Whitey’s since the 1960’s – gone. The flower shop, the Hungry Clam, The Mystical Mermaid, and the gift shop – all gone, and all since resurrected. The inspiring resilience of islanders: Lisa & Julie from the flower shop told me that fiery afternoon that they would still somehow deliver all the Mother’s Day orders that coming Sunday…and they did.

The area was cleared in time for the Fourth of July parade in 2002 - click on the photo for a bigger version - photo by Tim Dustrude, shot from the Coldwell Banker second floor.)

A couple of months later, when the ash & debris had been removed & the area cleaned up, the question remained – what to do with the now-huge hole in town. If you’ve been downtown, you know the answer – Gordy & Lori Peterson built the present downtown center & opened it in the late spring of 2004 (here’s a bit about that, from the Update in May ’04, as the Mystical Mermaid re-opened.)

It’s hard to believe that was a decade ago – it will remain a defining moment for islanders who witnessed it, not just of the destruction, but of the passion of islanders to rebuild & recover, and to tap that pioneer spirit that still burns here.

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