Businesses recover following fire

A burnt oil smell still occasionally wafts through the air, scorched vehicles sit in a fenced lot behind a towing company and businesses near the remarkable fire’s origin have just begun to recover.

Almost two months after the volatile blaze erupted at the Whitley Fuel depot in northeast Spokane, neighboring business owners and managers are still coping with the damages, but they are ready to move on.

“It’s come back alive,” said Ross Brown, owner of J.K. Brown automotive, which sits just an alley’s width south of Whitley Fuel. “I’m a survivor. If my building had burned up, I would have retired.”

Earlier this week, Spokane Fire officials acknowledged there was a person of interest – a man – in the fire they say was set by an arsonist. Investigators said Wednesday it’s not the first person they’ve questioned about the blaze but emphasized they don’t have a suspect.

Neighboring businesses are ready for the case to be solved and complain about being bombarded by media and “rubber-neckers” curious about the blaze. They say they’ve been given no greater insights into the investigation than anyone else.

After the fire, J.K. Brown automotive was “dang near shut down for two weeks, while the rubber neckers were driving by here. Then we reopened,” Brown said this week. Fortunately, none of the cars at the automotive shop were destroyed.

Brown’s brother, Bob, who does body work in the back of the business, said they were lucky. When the fire started, employees fled the shop leaving a big bay door open. Fire officials told the Browns if it had been closed, the shop would have exploded.

But reminders of the blaze still linger.

Sunlight reveals where the insulation melted on the wall nearest to Whitley Fuel. Cars that were at the shop during the blaze sit in the alley with the windows rolled down to vent the smoky smell. Stains on the cement show where the oil floated on water used to douse the flames before settling into the ground.

“We don’t open our backdoor anymore for the breeze to come through because the smell of the fire still comes in,” Bob Brown said.

Wheelchair Transport, a business located on the same lot as Whitley Fuel, recently received a letter from the depot’s insurance company stating: “our investigation has revealed that the cause of this incident was due to arson. Our insured was not negligent as to the cause of the fire. We do not feel our insured is liable for your damages and cannot consider any liability claims that may be presented as a result of this incident.”

Rex B. Goodwin, commercial claims specialist with Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Company, refused to comment about the letter or whether he’d received claims from businesses affected by the fire.

City fire investigators also are refusing to elaborate.

Mike Best, general manager of Wheelchair Transport, said the business lost five custom vans in the blaze, which was half his fleet, but their insurance will pay for those for the “most part.”

The business transports wheelchair-bound customers for nonemergency reasons, such as doctor appointments or from a hospital to a home. The vans are made with custom lifts, so it takes about two months to get a new one.

“We are in the process of negotiating prices for the vans,” Best said.

“We’re slowly getting back up again,” he said, adding they are still accepting new clients. “We’re running about half-staff right now.”

When the Whitley Fuel fire erupted, the plumes of smoke went skyward and upwind. A furniture company, Madison Home, which opened up just five months before the July 23 fire, sits a half-block north.

Manager Marlene Morrow said they were lucky in terms of damage, but they were hit financially. No customers entered their doors for about 10 days, which caused the business to lose $10,000 to $12,000.

But the dollar loss was better than the alternative, she said. “The one experience made us very cognizant of how fast it can all be gone.”