Let’s remember when a massive fire hit Pike Place Market, on this day in 1941 (December 14)
This is not good.
From HistoryLink and Phil Dougherty:
On December 14, 1941, a three-alarm fire strikes the Sanitary Public Market building at Pike Place Market in Seattle, causing major damage. The fire’s mysterious origin and rapid spread and that it occurs only seven days after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor leads many to speculate that the fire is the work of Japanese saboteurs. However, the cause of the fire is never determined.
Darkness was falling just before 5 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, December 14, 1941, when the first sign of trouble suddenly appeared. Courtney Payton, night watchman for the Sanitary Market (which covered much of the block between Pike and Pine streets and 1st Avenue and Pike Place) was in his apartment in the building when he heard four muffled explosions. Looking out, he saw flames erupt from the building’s west (Pike Place) side.
The Seattle Star reported the next day that the fire began on the third floor of the building, but it had spread to all four of the building’s floors by the time the first firefighters arrived. More help was summoned, and within an hour there were 150 firefighters from 17 engine companies and four truck companies fighting the blaze. They were aided by several hundred volunteer auxiliary firefighters as well as other volunteers, including soldiers and sailors.
Another 200 men from the Home Defense Infantry Regiment joined 60 police officers to control the thousands of onlookers (some fearing the fire was the result of an air raid) who converged on the scene. The crowd became so large that Seattle Police Chief Herbert Kimsey banned vehicle traffic from 1st, 2nd, and 3rd avenues in the vicinity of Pike and Pine. Spectators were also cleared up to a block away from the building.
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