Prophetstown, IL, Fire Chief Keith Crady’s face displayed fatigue, sorrow, and resolve 11 hours after firefighters began a battle with a disastrous conflagration in his home town. On Monday, July 15, 2013, about 2:30 a.m., fireman Rick Woolums received a cry for help from resident Cindy Jean Erics.
She lived above her Cindy Jean’s Restaurant at 324 Washington Street, the suspected onset of the fire. Hers is one of 11 buildings attacked by fire, smoke, and/or water, stretching along the west side of Washington Street from 316 to 342. Her building–with half-dome maroon awnings–lies in the center of the block.
The most northern business to be affected was Hartig Drug (green striped awning), conjoined buildings located at 316 and 318. It suffered inescapable water damage. Next door, however, it was a dreadful loss of the town’s history and irreplacable artifacts. The local Historical Museum (burgundy and green striped awnings) lost almost everything to the flames and remains a shell. Items visible from the front windows were retrieved safely later that evening by firefighters. Next in line is an attractive, vacant building on the north side of Cindy Jean’s. Outside its doors a lone flower basket, mounted on a lamp post, survived unharmed. Maggie Love had a beauty shop called Twisted Scissors on the south side of the restaurant.
Steve Siefken of Morrison, IL, took the predawn photos below. The first was shot only an hour after the alarm. Although some buildings contained fire walls, this blaze rapidly spread from the roof down into them. Creating a malevolent golden glow across the night sky, flames were seen 11 miles away.
Crady stated his crew emptied the town water tower and then pumped water from the nearby Rock River. Prophetstown’s Rock River Lumber & Grain offered their pump. He first called for five support tankers–then ten–then seven more from Lee County. There were six ladder trucks employed to disburse the liquid.
Illinois units responded from Morrison, Fulton, Lyndon, Sterling, Rock Falls, Albany, Mt. Carroll, Dixon, Paw Paw, Walnut, Sublette, Hoopole, Coleta, Savanna, Chadwick, Atkinson, Franklin Grove, Thomson, Port Byron, Geneseo, Ashton, Annawan-Alba, Harmon, Cordova, Milledgeville, Amboy, Erie, Tampico, and Clinton, and Camanche, IA. Gibson Oil in Lyndon, IL, and Schmitt Farm brought containers of water to assist.
Erics wisely had exited her apartment before making the call. A local interviewee said at about 2:30 Erics awoke and went to the kitchen, overlooking the alley, where she discovered “flames shooting up outside her building.”
Prophetstown firefighter Ryan Bohms described the danger. Power lines were flapping. Gas lines broke. Eerie “poppings” were likely vehicle tire exposions. Three vehicles were damaged, he said, one by collapsing bricks.
A wall collapsed due to an LP gas tank inside the former Herman Gentz auto dealership at 328, south of Twisted Scissors. It is the tallest of the affected buildings, where display windows used to be. This large, vacant building is owned by car dealer Troy Majeski. An undetermined number of renters were evacuated from upstairs.
Next door, over KM’s Monogram store (white building with covered walk), two sisters had apartments in a building owned by their parents, Ken and Mary Stegmiller. Angie Stegmiller, her sister, and brother-in-law were unharmed. The Ceramic Center (ivory siding with upper bay window) is to the south. Long-term owner Shirley Ott was asleep upstairs when the blaze began, but she escaped.
Five buildings to the south of Cindy Jean’s Restaurant, 78-year-old business owner Dolores Francis slept soundly, even though axes were used to enter her apartment. She was awakened by a fireman, shining a flashlight on her face, who said, “Ma’am, you have to get up!” Francis owned D’s Varieties and Crafts (red bay window with covered walk) at 336, where she was in business over 30 years. Previously Francis worked in the building, when it was a Ben Franklin enterprise; it had been such for over 50 years.
Bohms added only one woman complained of smoke inhalation, but she required no hospitalization. A nearby resident called the ambulance due to drifting smoke.
Sue Nelson was not home in the apartment at 338 1/2, the building of Judge Vicki Wright (cream stone.) A fireman had axed his way into the apartment to see if it were occupied; the next day Nelson’s cat was rescued unharmed. Judge Wright rents office space at 338, a long-ago bank, near the south end of the block. Her husband reported they removed court records and pet birds safely.
The Prophetstown Echo (one story) is located at 342 Washington Street, the last of the buildings to be threatened. Mary Ellen Brackemyer of Shawver Press reported “no water [damage], only lots of smoke. Cleaners have been scheduled.”
The alley behind Main Street was described by people as “a war zone,” reminiscent of World War II.
About 12:45 p.m., a Nicor Gas crew member began “capping the gas lines into the buildings” and would then restore gas service to safe areas. Demolition of the 19th century buildings would soon leave a gaping wound in this charming “Main Street Community.”
The American Red Cross of the Quad Cities responded to the fire early with drinks and snacks. They will assist those who lost their dwellings with housing, food, and shelter. Food was donated by the local Subway, and McDonald’s and the Family Chef Restaurants in Morrison.
As devastating as today was, it demonstrated how fortunate we are to have skillful, compassionate, and brave first responders at our service. Sleep well, Band of Brothers.
