Fire destroys century-old Apalachicola home

A two-story, turn-of-the-century wooden home in Apalachicola’s historic district burned to the ground Monday night.

No one was injured in the blaze, as the home was unoccupied, owned by Elizabeth Card and Jeff Bower, of Troy, Penn.

Assisted by firefighters from Eastpoint and St. George Island, a crew from the Apalachicola Volunteer Fire Department met with some delays in fighting the blaze, but was able to spare the adjacent homes at the intersection of 16th street and Avenue B from damage.

Known as the Wright house, the 3,137-square-foot structure was believed built by John Marshall around 1890. According to Vivian Marshall Sherlock, the historian whose father was born there in 1892, the builder owned Marshall Works, a lumber store down in the Bowery section of town.

John Marshall's first son, Dwight Marshall, was born there in 1892, and John Marshall Jr., Willoughby Marshall's father, in 1895. Other sons followed, Joe, Will and George Marshall, who is credited with the building of many structures in Apalachicola's Historic District.

The house was long the residence of Gordon and Louise Wright, who owned for many years the five-and-dime store at the corner of Market Street and Avenue D. Mrs. Wright taught elementary school for many years in the county, mostly at Chapman but for a time in Carrabelle, and following her death, the house passed into the hands of her niece, Elizabeth Card.

Bobby Miller, who lives next door at 34 16^th Street, was among the first to detect a problem at his neighbor’s house.

“All I saw was thick, thick black smoke,” he said. “There were no flames leaping from anywhere. I heard glass break, and smoke was billowing out everywhere.”

It was then Miller noticed the glow of flames in the home’s living room.

With the help of his wife, Valerie, Miller grabbed his garden hose and started to wet the side of the house down in an attempt to chill the fire’s advance. “We were just trying to hold it down until the fire department got there,” he said.

Miller also called Apalachicola fire chief George Watkins, at 6:33 p.m., right about the time he was headed down Bluff Road after tending his beehives.

Watkins had just gotten word of the blaze from the sheriff’s office. “You need to bring everything you got,” the dispatcher told him.

The department’s newer fire truck, about 10 years old, began to shoot water from its tank, as Watkins and fellow fighters James McCall and Jimmy Lashley, looked to hook up a hose to the nearest hydrant, at 17^th Street and Avenue C, to the other.

“The flames were inside, and it was just starting to break windows,” said Watkins. “It looked like the bottom floor all the way up to the second floor was burning. It looked like it had been smoldering for a while.”

When the firemen secured the hose to the hydrant, they were surprised to learn no water was forthcoming.

“He said it’s on but it’s no good,” said Watkins. “Somebody in the city had cut it off.”

The firefighters scrambled to hook up to another hydrant, at 15^th Street and Avenue C, but it was further away, with a weaker spray. “Once you go 700 feet, you don’t get a lot of pressure from that distance,” said Watkins.

Meanwhile, the crew from Eastpoint had arrived to spray from their tanker and the fire began to be under control. Also, William Cox, from the city’s water and sewer department, had arrived to restore flow to the nearest hydrant.

“The hydrant was shut down for repair. That’s going to come out in the wash,” said Watkins. “We needed a hydrant real close by where we could hook two hoses to it. There was none on Avenue B all the way to 13^th Street.”

The chief said he was glad the three crews were able to save the Miller home, Carl Dennis’ house and other nearby structures. Watkins said he wasn’t sure what effect the hydrant delay had on the fire’s progress.

“It could have preserved it (the house) but to me a lot of the damage already was done,” he said. “Whether it would have been savable or not, I don’t know.”

Miller said the house was ravaged by flames even before firefighters arrived, and he was unsure what might have been had hydrant delays not developed. “I don’t believe they could have saved that if they had the truck parked here, and when I called 911 they said ‘Go,” he said.

Miller dispelled rumors the fire could have been set by people trespassing inside the house. He said the house was fully furnished, and had timers to turn the inside lights on and off at pre-set times, as well as a security system that included a high-temperature alarm.

“The house was ready to walk in and live in, it wasn’t abandoned,” said Miller.

He said the owners would come down to do maintenance, and had a hired hand to tend to the lawn and other chores.

Joe Steadman, from the state fire marshal’s office, was down to examine the charred remains for a possible cause. Firefighters said state investigators are considering the possibility the fire began with a short in one of the electrical panels.

Watkins said the blaze was under control within about 90 minutes, but not fully extinguished for another 12 hours. “It wasn’t completely out until 9 a.m. this morning,” he said Tuesday. “We left at 1 a.m., and it flared back up at 5 a.m. so we came back out and stayed until 9 a.m. Finally it rained and we put enough water on it, it finally went out.”

The chief said he remains concerned that with fewer hydrants to work with, future problems could arise in other situations.

“There used to be a lot more hydrants in the town,” he said. “There used to be a hydrant on 16^th street, at 16^th and C, one on every block, every corner, where they intersected.”

Watkins estimated that half the hydrants were removed about 10 years ago as part of a revamping of the city’s water system.

“My opinion is they took about half the hydrants,” he said. “We don’t have good hydrant pressure anymore, even when everything works right.”