A major fire in an historic building in downtown Renton in June 2009 destroyed a boarding house upstairs and two businesses on the first floor.Several nearby businesses were closed for days while cleanup was under way.The fire on a Thursday night presented a number of challenges for our small staff. First, we had to get the immediate coverage, including a video and photos, on our Web site the next day. With our production day the following Wednesday, we had to work quickly to answer all the questions such a major fire raises, as well as do an additional video for rentonreporter.comThe result in our weekly print edition was a comprehensive report on the fire itself, the impact on businesses, a likely cause and a report on the lack of fire alarms. Included, too, was extensive photo coverage.Dean A. Radfordeditor

By EMILy GARLAND

egarland@rentonreporter.com

Downtown Renton is back in business — mostly. It’s been barely a week since a five-alarm fire lit up a 90-year-old build-ing on Wells Avenue South, but most of the damaged businesses are now back to business as usual, or getting there.

With help from loyal custom-ers, most of the five businesses hit hardest by Thursday night’s fire were either open for busi-ness Wednesday or had plans to open soon, either in their origi-nal shops or in new locations.

The two businesses most heavily devastated by the flames, smoke and water used to douse Thursday night’s fire were the shops just below one of the 10 boarding rooms where the fire started.

Those two businesses are The Comic Den and A-1 Vacuum and Locksmith.

The building was uninsured.“We lost everything,” Comic

Den owner Howard Wheatley said. “Hundreds of titles ... Bat-man, Flash, Superman ... also personal memento type stuff.”

Wheatley and his wife Tonya own The Comic Den.

Most of the lost comics were in the two back rooms of the shop. Just one of those rooms held more than 50,000 comics.

Fortunately, the newer comics for sale in the front of the shop were better protected, as were a lot of the shop’s vintage reads, from the 1950s through the ‘70s.

Many of these books are now for sale in the new Comic Den on South Third Street, just steps away from the burned-out Wells building.

The South Third Street build-ing had been vacant for about 12 years. Both buildings are owned by Robert Delancey.

The Comic Den reopened in its new digs Wednesday with a fresh shipment of comics.

Locksmith Tom Swanson of A-1 Vacuum and Locksmith hopes to follow his former neighbor’s example and reopen in a storefront farther down South Third Street.

But transforming that South Third Street storefront from storage space for Naan -N- Curry into a new shop for A-1 Vacuum and Locksmith will

require electrical work, building permits and money.

And money is something Swanson doesn’t have a lot of, especially after the fire. Aside from his key blanks, which help him make keys for customers, and his truck, another vital part of his business, Tom lost every-thing in the flames and water.

His brother Bud, who runs the vacuum side of things, also lost everything, aside from a couple bags and belts.

Still, Tom is hoping money

from a U.S. Bank fund one of his customers set up will help him get back to business in that South Third Street shop with his locks and his brother’s vacuums.

Aside from CK Nails, the three businesses just around the corner from the burned-out Wells Avenue building have fared better than their neigh-bors.

“Yes! We’re open!” Those words are spelled out in bubbly letters on a window at Common Ground Coffee & Cupcakes. The store suffered smoke damage in the fire, but still managed to fill a wedding order for 120 cup-cakes by the next afternoon. The bride was so happy she cried.

OFF-Leash DOg park | RUFF needs some help this weekend [3]

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Local | Take an historic ride on a miniature railroad with Jim and Sandy Arlint in the Highlands.[3]

Preps | It was quite a successful year for high schools sports teams in Renton. [21]

Getting back to business after fire

By DEAN A. RADFORD

dradford@rentonreporter.com

The 10 boarding rooms de-stroyed in a five-alarm fire last Thursday night in downtown Renton each had smoke alarms, but the nearly 90-year-old build-ing had no sprinklers or a fire-alarm system.

Typically, buildings of that age, and even newer, don’t have such modern fire-suppression systems and warnings, which weren’t required by building codes when the buildings were constructed.

The heavily damaged two-story building at 232 Wells Ave. S. was built in 1921, according to King County property re-cords. The building is owned by Robert Delancey and is valued for property-tax purposes in 2009 at $435,500, including the land, according to King County.

The building was not insured; according to building manager Roy Beeler, it’s going to be torn down. Remodeling would require that the building be brought up to modern fire and building codes.

Room 9, where the fire started, had a working alarm when the tenant moved in six years ago, Beeler said. But, Beeler said he didn’t hear the alarm when he briefly went inside the room to in-vestigate why smoke was coming

Boardingrooms haddetectors,no alarm

[ more DETECTORS page 4 ]

Five-alarm firedestroys 90-year-old building, but not spirit of business to recover

videoS onlinerentonreporter.com

rich nesbitt, left, and Howard Wheatley unpack the week’s shipment of new comics at The Comic Den Wednesday. Wheatley is owner of The Comic Den and Nesbitt is a longtime employee. Along with new comics, the shop has a new location at 822 S. Third St. The Comic Den’s previous spot on Wells Avenue South was destroyed in the five-alarm fire on June 11. emIly gARlAND, Renton Reporter

FyI CAUSE, PHOTOS, PAGE 18

[ more BUSINESS page 19]

June 19, 2009[4] www.rentonreporter.com

under the front door.The tenant was at dinner when the fire

started, caused by overheated electrical outlets.

But an escape route, not smoke alarms that brought fire inspectors to the building just a few hours before the fire was called in to 911 at about 7 p.m. Thursday, June 11.

The rooming house is entered through a stairway off Wells Avenue; there is an interior stairway in the back of the building that acts as a secondary way to access the second floor. It also served as an escape route in a fire.

City of Renton fire officials have been concerned because the escape route leads to the front door of A-1 Vacuum and Lock-

smith and eventually Wells Avenue.However, the front door was secured

with multiple locks, according to the city’s lead fire inspector, Ted Hickey. The owners agreed to install a manual thumb screw lock on the door that someone simply turns to open the door, without needing a key.

The inspectors were there before the fire Thursday to make sure that tenants could get out of the building using the back stair-way in case of fire.

“They complied with everything the city asked them to do,” said Hickey of the build-ing owner.

That escape route wasn’t needed. The tenants in the building at the time escaped through the main front entrance, except for

[ DETECTOR from page 1]

[ more DETECTOR page 5 ]

Escape route concerned city

The June 11 fire gutted nearly all the 10 boarding rooms on the second floor of the building; the fire started in the back of the building, sparing some rooms closer to Wells Avenue South from extensive damage, unlike this one. deAn A. rAdford, Renton Reporter

[5]June 19, 2009www.rentonreporter.com

one who was rescued by ladder from one of the front windows by arriving Renton fire crews.

According to Beeler, the rooms weren’t inspected for smoke alarms on Thursday, which wasn’t the pur-pose of the city’s visit. It’s the tenant’s responsibility to maintain the smoke alarms, including installing fresh batteries, he said.

Beeler said tenants are not allowed to smoke in their rooms. And, he said, if they do smoke, they will sometimes remove the batteries from the smoke alarm.

Hickey said Renton isn’t alone in dealing with aging buildings that don’t meet modern safety standards.

“They are as safe as they can be,” he said of the buildings. “We can’t make them (the owners) comply with every regulation.”

A secondary exit and a smoke alarm is required, however.

The seven tenants will move into a building Delancey owns just around the corner at 824 S. Third St. that has 22 rooms on the second floor and retail space on the street level that has been vacant for more than a decade.

This building is valued at just over $1 million, including land, for property-tax purposes, according to King County. It was built in 1910, according to the county.

One of the businesses in the Wells Avenue building, the Comic Den, moved into half of the vacant retail space this week.

There’s an indication that Delancey plans to insure his building on Third Street, according to Beeler.

The Third Street building has a fire-alarm system, with a battery backup, according to Beeler. It has an exterior fire escape on the outside of the building, next to Wells Avenue.

The fire escape will undergo a routine inspection, done every five years, in the next few weeks, according to city fire officials.

[ DETECTOR from page 4]

Boarders to move nearby

Renton fire inspectors determined that overloaded outlets and power strips, like the one at the bottom of this photo, in Room 9 caused the fire. dean a. RadfoRd, Renton Reporter

June 19, 2009[6] www.rentonreporter.com

We all know of a friend, relative or business that has been adversely impacted during this economic downturn which has swept the nation. These people have lost their jobs, homes or healthcare cover-age. Senior citizens have lost their life’s savings and are being forced to come out of retirement to seek employment just to try and keep their heads above water. There are the poor, the lost and the needy who even during a good economic climate, suffer from hunger and homelessness. Many small business owners have had to scale back or shut down and large companies are forced to reduce payrolls by the thousands. The economic crisis has made its way to every doorstep. It seems, with many asking the question, “How do I adapt to these changing times?”

I’m reminded of the book, “Who Moved my Cheese,” by Dr. Spencer John-son. This story is about how four characters re-spond to change,

with cheese being a metaphor for what we want to attain in life (job, money, a big home, health, a business, etc.). The characters in the book experience the discovery, enjoyment and eventual loss of cheese. It is quite interesting how each character chooses to deal with the loss and the immediate de-mand for change. So, here we find ourselves with the same dilemma. Dr. Miles Munroe states in his new book, “The Principle and Benefits of Change,” that “the most impor-

tant thing to know about change is to expect it.” He further states, “Comfort traps us from develop-ment and growth.” I’ve had discus-sions with many people about these uncomfortable times and some of them believe that things will never be the same again. I agree. I believe that we are going to have to learn how to live with less and that we have to rethink what we want and why we want it. With smart deci-sions, right choices and increasing our awareness about new and inno-vative options this, too, will pass, and we’ll be the better for it.

In the meantime, we need to support our local businesses by shopping locally and getting involved in one of our local com-munity, non-profit or faith-based organizations and making a dif-ference. Random acts of kindness

can mean so much to someone less fortunate than you. Be that difference! Now, more than ever, we all must do our part to rebuild, renew and reinvent ourselves like never before. There is tremendous opportunity before us if we’re able to adapt to our changing economic climate. The biggest change we’re going to have to make is between our ears!

Greg Taylor is a Renton City Council member and chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee. You can reach him at gtaylor@rentonwa.gov. Taylor is also the Branch Manager/Mort-gage Consultant for Windermere Mortgage Services Series LLC/South, 3900 East Valley Rd., Suite 200, in Renton.

Last Thursday’s big fire in downtown Renton certainly confirmed two truths about the city and its residents:

• Renton has a great, well-trained fire depart-ment.

• When a business needs help, other business-es are more than willing to step in and provide it.

Regarding that first truth. Perhaps Jerry Kavesh, owner of Renton Western Wear not far from where the fire happened, put it best.

“That could have been a big smoking hole in the ground,” he told me Tuesday. He gives credit, and rightly so, to the fire department.

There’s no hole in the ground at 232 Wells Ave. S. for two reasons. Under the leadership of suc-

cessive fire chiefs, the Renton department has developed a strong working relation-ship with fire departments in nearby cities, providing them with mutual aid when they need it the most. Renton has one of only three ladder trucks in South King County

and, without hesitation, Fire Chief I. David Daniels says the city’s dive team is the best one in the county.

It was easy to call in that chit, says Daniels, the president of the King County Fire Chiefs As-sociation. Fire crews from Tukwila, Kent, Seattle and from the Eastside all responded for Renton’s call for help in the five-alarm fire.

Then there’s the second reason: planning and lots of practice.

Daniels holds a key state leadership post in developing the standards that fire departments would follow under the National Incident Man-agement System. Renton, and every fire depart-ment, trains relentlessly to meet those response standards.

He told me something that caught me by surprise, although he was referring to the fire department. “The fire isn’t the big deal,” he said (unless, of course, you’re somehow affected.) “The big deal is how you manage the resources to put out the fire.”

Each fire makes the fire crews that much bet-ter in responding to the next one, he said. That, of course, is the value of experience.

The fire department engages other city depart-ments in planning how to best use the city’s resources.

“We are all playing with the same play book,” he said.

No kidding. Without all the training, relation-ship-building and experience, last Thursday’s fire potentially could have spread to adjoining buildings, destroying even more businesses and homes.

And then there are the downtown businesses

that stepped up. Take Calico Cheesecakes, not affected by the fire – and in possession of a kitchen. Common Ground Coffee and Cupcakes was affected by the fire (it’s in the adjoining building to the one that was gutted). It had a big order to fill for a wedding, but it had no power. In steps Calico Cheesecakes with its ovens and there’s a happy bride and groom.

Other businesses and residents stepped up to donate clothes or household goods to the seven residents who lost nearly everything in the boarding rooms in the building’s second floor.

Of course, we’ve lost a big piece of Renton’s history, a nearly century-old building where lives played out. For old-timers it was a chance to remember what that building meant to them.

But I would hope that we won’t remember the acrid smoke that filled downtown Renton that night. Instead, let’s remember the response from the fire crews and the community.

Thanks to fire crews, downtown businessesfor great response to fire

● Q U O T E O F N O T E : “There were too many things plugged in…“ Renton Fire Chief I. David Daniels, on the cause of the five-alarm fire that destroyed a downtown Renton building

● L E T T E r s . . . y O U r O p i N i O N c O U N T s : To submit an item or photo: email letters@rentonreporter.com; mail attn Letters, Renton Reporter, 200 Mill Ave. S., Suite 70, Renton WA 98057; fax 425.255.3499. Letters may be edited for style, clarity and length.

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Dean A. Radford Editor: dradford@rentonreporter.com

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?Question of the week:“Will you use the new off-leash dog park in Renton once in opens later this year?”

Vote online:www.rentonreporter.com

Last week’s poll results:“Are you worried about being able to pay for your children’s college education, given the increase in tuition?”

Yes:81% No: 18%

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A call to adapt in these tough economic times

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June 19, 2009[18] www.rentonreporter.com

The remains of The Comic Den is visible from the second floor through what was a skylight.

Roy Beeler, at left, the building manager, helped roust the tenants from the building. He used a fire extinguisher, at right, in an short-lived effort to fight the fire before smoke forced him to retreat from the building.

The fire destroyed the personal belongings of most of the seven residents in the boarding rooms.

Onlookers watch as fire crews battle the five-alarm fire in downtown Renton the evening of June 11. Earlier, they had been pushed back from the alleyway closer to the fire by police officers.

By DEAN A. RADFORD

dradford@rentonreporter.com

Overloaded electrical outlets in a second-floor boarding room caused the spectacular five-alarm fire the evening of June 11 that heavily dam-aged a nearly century-old building in downtown Renton, according to Renton Fire Chief David Daniels.

The fire forced residents in the boarding rooms to flee. No one was hurt; but one of the tenants, who was overcome by smoke, was rescued from a second-floor window by fire crews using an extension ladder.

There are 10 boarding rooms that share a kitchen and two bathrooms; seven were occupied.

Power also was restored either very early Friday morning, on June 12, or by afternoon to affected businesses in the block bordered by Wells Avenue and South Third Street. Most were reopening this week.

The two businesses in the gutted building, The Comic Den and A-1 Vacuum and Locksmith, were forced to move.

Fire investigators determined the cause last Friday after the upstairs floor of the building at 232 Wells Ave. S. were made safe for entry. The inves-tigation is now done and the building was released to the owners last Friday, according to Daniels.

The Fire Department plans no action against the owner, Robert Delancey, because any safety concerns the department had raised before the fire had been addressed, according to Daniels.

The tenant in Room 9 was at dinner when the fire started; the building manager discovered the fire after he was alerted by another tenant of a smell of smoke.

“There were too many things plugged in,” Daniels said, including to the room’s only two outlets and surge protectors. The electronic equipment in the room included a mixing board, video boards and a TV, according to Daniels.

The building manager told the Renton Reporter the night of the fire that when he entered the room, he used a fire extinguisher to try to put

Taxedoutletscauseof fire

Photos by Dean a. RaDfoRDRenton RePoRteR

[ more CAUSE page 20 ]

[19]June 19, 2009www.rentonreporter.com

The bride’s cupcakes were baked and decorated with help from friendly neigh-bors on South Third Street.

Cafe Lure donated its kitchen and the law firm Green & Rousso donated its confer-ence room.

“So, they saved the wedding,” Common Ground owner Lange Woon says. “That was pretty cool. Neighbors came out and helped each other.”

Lange and his wife Heng own Common Ground.

During the last week, the Woons has been visited by several customers wanting to help get their favorite cupcake shop back up and baking.

Smoke damage meant the Woons had to throw out most of their baking sup-plies. Immediately after the fire, Common Ground was also filled with water about 3 inches deep and 6 to 10 feet wide.

Tukwila-based Venturi Technologies sucked that water out.

That puddle was nothing compared to the water gushing out the front door of CK Nails after the fire. The gallons and gallons of water that spurted from the fire hoses pushed through much of the salon’s roof.

It will likely take a month to restore the shop, says Chad Neilson, Venturi base manager. CK Nails will likely reopen in the restored shop, the building manager said.

Venturi was still removing water from the back room of Renton Laptop Wednes-day, but the neighbor of CK Nails had partially opened for business, and expected

to be fully open by Monday. Renton Laptop has a roof in need of

patching and about four destroyed comput-ers, but luckily only one of those computers is a customer’s. The shelves holding the 20-some other customer computers weren’t damaged. And for that, Renton Laptop owner Hakim Belloulid is grateful.

He had to padlock his shop shut the morning after the fire. He didn’t go home until 3:30 a.m.

The Comic Den owner Howard Wheat-ley was also at his shop the night of the fire, along with his business owner neighbors and their weeping customers.

Fortunately, for most of the block, busi-ness is coming back from what Comic Den owner Tonya Wheatley calls “the horror of Thursday night.”

“We’re looking forward to moving forward,” she said earlier this week. “We can’t do anything about yesterday, but we’re definitely looking forward.”

Emily Garland can be reached at 425-255-3484, ext. 5052.

Roy Beeler, property manager of the burned-out building on Wells Avenue South, has received an out-pouring of donations for the seven tenants displaced in last Thursday night’s

fire. Five of those tenants are now living just around the corner on South Third Street.

He has received brand new mattresses, bedding, clothes, sheets, fans, TVs, toiletries and more.

One of Beeler’s tenants said he was so touched by

the donations that he felt like crying.

“First you have a trag-edy, but since then you have a blessing,” Beeler said. “...it’s just hard to keep up with.”

To find out if more help is needed, call Roy Beeler at 425-227-5433.

Help on way

[ BUSINESS from page 1]

‘They saved the wedding’Heng Woon, one of the owners of Common Ground Coffee and Cupcakes, hauls equipment and material from the store, as a cleanup crew works outside to wash down tables and chairs. Dean a. RaDfoRD, Renton Reporter

fYI

The Comic Den is now at 822 S. Third St. It is open Monday through Saturday, noon-6 p.m. The phone number is 425-235-1663.

a business relocation fund has been set up for a-1 Vacuum and Locksmith at the U.S. Bank at 858 S. Second St.

What’snext

A fence and a piece of plywood for a door now secure a building gutted in a fire last week on Wells avenue in downtown Renton. a sign on The Comic Den proclaims its new location around the corner. at far right, workers install a new door on the side of Common Ground Coffee and Cupcakes. eMILY GaRLanD, Renton Reporter.

June 19, 2009[20] www.rentonreporter.com

out a small fire in what he thought was an amplifier. Heavy smoke forced him from the room.

The fire isn’t considered arson – the tenant didn’t “try to make it happen,” Daniels said. Overloading power cords is something people do that “they probably shouldn’t do,” he said. The fire started in one of the components, he said.

The building is uninsured, according to Daniels, and only one of the two busi-nesses affected – The Comic Den – has partial insurance. No damage estimate is available, which is based on insurance loss, he said.

What happens next to the building is up to the owner, Robert Delancey. But, the strong likelihood is that it will be torn down.

There already may be a buyer for the land.

In a major remodel, the owners would have to bring the building to current building and fire codes.

Rooms have been found nearby for the seven tenants in the boarding rooms.

A temporary fence was installed last Friday in front of both businesses.

Wheatley couldn’t place a dollar figure on the loss, although he said it’s “sig-nificant.” He sells mostly current comic books and didn’t have “collector’s” comics that would have increased their value. Also, he will be able to salvage inventory, too.

The fire started around 7 p.m. in Room 9, which is in the back of the building. Fire crews fought the blaze from both the front and back of the building, gaining access there from an alley.

Units from Kent, Tukwila, Seattle and the Eastside joined Renton firefighters in battling the blaze, which drew a huge crowd of onlookers.

Dean Bradshaw, who lives in Room 7, alerted the building manager, Roy Beeler, about the smell of smoke and then called 911 from his cell phone.

Bradshaw was sitting at his computer when he smelled smoke.

“I tried to make my way down the

hallway,” Bradshaw said. He made it to the front windows. He stuck his head out to get some fresh air.

“I know what smoke inhalation will do to you,” he said Friday.

Alerted by Bradshaw that something was wrong, Beeler went to room 9. He un-locked the door, but only barely opened it in case there were flames inside. He then pushed the door all the way open. What greeted him was “massive smoke.”

He used a fire extinguisher to put out what seemed like a small fire, possibly involving a guitar amplifier.

Within seconds, the room filled with smoke and Beeler was forced to retreat. Feeling his way out, he pounded on doors and yelled for everyone to get out.

“Unless the person in No. 9 was in there dying of smoke, everybody else was safe,” he said, as fire crews battled the fire.

Embraced in a bear hug, Bradshaw was rescued by a firefighter on an extension ladder.

James Stimac was asleep in Room 6 when he heard someone yelling for help.

He opened the front door. The hall was in flames. He slammed the door and put on his pants and glasses and grabbed his phone.

“I got on my knees, opened the door and crawled out, the smoke was so thick,” he said Thursday night as the building burned behind him. “I got out safely.”

Between 110 and 120 firefighters responded to the fire, one of the worst in recent memory in Renton. Between 10 and 15 off-duty Renton firefighters were called in to help battle the fire.

The large response allowed fire crews to take a break for “rehabilitation” before returning to their stations.

Fire crews remained at the scene over-night in case of flare-ups. The fire didn’t spread to adjoining buildings, which are separated by fire walls.

The building was built in 1921, one of the original structures in downtown Renton.

Mayor Denis Law and Jay Covington, the city’s chief administrative officer, were at the scene Thursday night.

[ CAUSE from page 18]

Building likely to be torn downSome of the comics at The Comic Shop on Wells Avenue can be salvaged and sold; but much of the store’s stock suffered “extensive” damage, according to its owner. rené flAnSAAS, Renton Reporter