Downtown Fire Loss $500,000

A raging fire which sent acrid clouds of smoke billowing throughout dówntown Ann Arbor early this morning destroyed an entire floor of offices and the roof oí the Municipal Court building at 104 W. Hurón St. Preliminary estimates place the fire loss at $500,000. The fire, the most costly in the city since the Martin Haller Furniture Co. blaze on E. Liberty St. in 1969, saw Fire Chief Arthur L. Stauch send a forcé of 60 firemen manning eight pieces of fire apparatus into action. The chief said his men were aided by a score of volunteer firemen from township departments. Chief Stauch and Fire Marshal John R. Williams said the fire started on the third floor of the old office building which more than 60 years ago housed the Ann Arbor Savings Bank and the Masonic Temple. The blaze apparently began in the office of the Washtenaw Legal Aid Clinic, a publicly-funded agency which provides legal counsel for indigent persons. "We won't be able to pinpoint a cause until more investigation is completed but once it started the fire pushed directly up into a large attic area," Fire Marshal Williams said. That area was used years ago ,as the Masonic Temple and a number of pairi.ings depicting the history of Masonry were stored there, Williams said. The fire marshal said the paintings were I valued at $28,000. Once into the open attic, the fire I roomed into a huge, angry ball of orange flame. When a half-dozen fire hoses sent blasts of water hurtling into I the fire, it retreated to the west end of I the building in a flash and moments I er lit the dark November sky with a roaring inferno which reached out for I the Greyhound Bus Co. terminal nearby. I -Chief Stauch and Assistant Chief Fred I Schmid sent teams of firemen I ing up aerial ladders to man hoses and 1 ■d positioned other units on the ground to I I send streams of water cascading upward 1 I against the sides of the aging building. Flames shot 35 feet in the air at the I I rear of the building near the County Jail I I where telephone service was cut off by I I the fire and electric power threatened. I I Cloiius of moke driftcd sullenly toward I I the jail Building and Sheriff's I I ment officers at one point made I I nary plans for evacuation of the more I than 100 prisoners there, __J 77 When t?e-stiümg7moke threatened the safety of firemen at the top of the aerial ladders Chief Stauch ordered the men down and had the huge ladder hoses operated manually from the ground. The chief said his men manned hoses pumping 4 000 gallons of water a minute for more than three hours before the blaze was brought under control. Stauch said he estimates his department dumped a million gallons of water on the roanng Wayne "Bud" Abbott of the city Water Department appeared on the scène and had his employés keep water pressure up to capacity for the firemen. Mayor Robert J. Harris, also on the scène, later lauded the Fire Department and Water Department for their efforts and noted the prevention of the spread of the blaze averted disastrous consequences. Chief Stauch said actual fire damage was confined to the entire third floor and the roof of the building but all offices on the second floor and the seven business places on the street Ie vel received severe water and smoke damage. Moray's Jewelers, the Varsity Bar, Aliredo's Hair Styling, Ray's Barber Shop, the Michigan State Parole office the Viking Sewing Machine Co. shop and I the Pacific Finance Co. are all located I on the first floor on W. Hurón and N. Battalion Fire Chief Paul Wenk said there was at least a foot of water in most of those business places when the ■ fire was finally extinguished. Chief Stauch said it appears more than I 50 per cent of the building was destroyed ■ or so extensively damaged that it will be I virtually impossible to repair it. He said I it will be his recommendation that the ■ structure be razed. The chief said officers from his departI ment and inspectors from the DepartI ment of Building and Safety Engineering I are scheduled to look through the builcl■ inp iater today. One of the second floor offices receivH ing extensive water damage was ocI cupied by Jack J. Garris, an attorney I active in local politics. Garris said the I fire had destroyed "23 years of work" I which he had done in his legal career. I He said one set of papers which had I been lying on a desk were for a Court of I Appeals case which Was scheduled to be Iheard this week. The papers, retrieved I by firemen, were saturated with water Band debris. ' I - i Firemen said the building is owned byl a Corporation headed by Theodore (Ted) I Dames, a local businessman. The build-l ing was covered by insurance but thel amount could not immediately be deter-l mined, firemen said. The building took its name from thel former Ann Arbor Municipal Courtl which until a decade ago occupied office 1 snace on the street floor on the W. Hu-I ron St. side of the structure. The courtl moved to the sixth floor of City Hall I when that building was erected. City fireman have long been 1 sive about the Municipal Court building, pointing out that it was built in a day when there were no building codes andl few safeguards to control a fire if one I started. Renovations had been made inl the structure but the old wooden wallsl and ceilings remained a fire hazard I which firemen discussed among them-l selves regularly. (Other picture on Page 23) 1