Fire Blackens Future Blaze Destroys Man’s Chance To Relearn Job Skills

Leo Fuchs needs a new job.

On Wednesday, he watched as the bar where he works burned to the ground.

The Worley Nugget was one of two drinking establishments in town. And for Fuchs, 63, the bar was a place to relearn the job skills he had lost to a stroke.

“It helped me do what I couldn’t do before,” he said, eyeing the charred remains of the bar. “After I had the stroke, I had to start all over. I didn’t even know my name.”

Fuchs and his wife were sleeping in their Worley home Wednesday when a man pounded on their door about 2:30 a.m., yelling for them to call the Fire Department.

Fuchs jumped into his clothes while his wife dialed 911. At the corner of Second Street and U.S. Highway 95 in downtown Worley, he found the bar in flames.

Firefighters en route could see the glow from the blaze almost 20 miles away, said Worley Fire Chief Lonnie Dyer.

He believes the fire had been burning for a while before firemen were called. The windows had exploded and the front half of the roof had collapsed by the time they arrived.

Thirty volunteer firefighters with 10 trucks spent the morning dousing the blaze, which shut down U.S. Highway 95 for about three hours.

“We had flames 100 feet high coming out of the roof of the building,” Dyer said. “The fire was so intense, we weren’t able to do any entry into the building.”

Instead, firemen protected surrounding businesses and homes.

The bar was just 20 feet from Reservation Bucks and Loans. Winds from the east blew the flames away from that business but sent them arcing toward a grocery to the west.

Margery Lagow owns the Worley Meat and Grocery and was asleep in her home next door.

“I could smell the smoke, and it woke me up,” Lagow said.

Donning a bathrobe, she watched from the street as flames threatened the store she has owned since 1949. “I just sort of prayed it wouldn’t catch my business and home on fire,” she said.

Firefighters doused her building with water, preventing damage. They had the fire under control within an hour but still were spraying hot spots Wednesday afternoon.

Fire investigators spent the rest of the day searching for the fire’s cause.

A preliminary investigation shows an electrical problem near the front of the building had sparked the blaze, Dyer said.

Damage to the building was estimated at $70,000, according to a Kootenai County Sheriff’s Department report. Bob Palm, owner of the building, said he’s not sure if there’s insurance to cover the damage.

Fuchs, who said he used to own the bar in the 1980s, had a stroke a little more than a year ago.

“I had to learn things over,” he said.

About three months ago, he started working at the bar part time for free, hoping the job would help him relearn skills he had lost after the stroke.

“It helped them a little, and it helped me, too,” he said in a halting voice. He said the job retaught him how to work a cash till and clean and vacuum floors.

On Wednesday, Fuchs said he’ll look for another job to keep polishing his skills.

But after a day of sifting through rubble, he said, “I’m going fishing. That’s the best thing I can do.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo