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2 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, November 15, 1968 Strangely, Queen Street was practically deserted last Thursda at 11:45 am., when S land's Bob Walley parked his car and headed along the empty sidewalks to do a little shopping at a drug store. As he was walking by Strawber- ry Threads, a ladies clothing store, something about the window dis- play caught his eye. "I saw the Christmas display and I thought, what a neat display. And then I realized it wasn't a dis- play at all. It was a fire. "It was growing as I watched it." Mr. Walley only spent a few seconds in front of the window be- fore he realized the white mini- Christmas bulbs had touched off a small blaze in the window, which was lined with a white material he thought "must have been cotton batten." Quickly he turned on his heel and ran into the Port Perry Star office, shouting "You'd better phone the fire department. One of the stores is on fire!" While one Star staff member called Scugog Firefighters, other staff rushed outside to Strawberry available at the Port Perry Star FBS For more information call 985-7383 Threads (two stores east), where a small crowd was already gather- ing. The store's front door was locked and a handwritten sign read "Be right back." The flames were growing inside the locked store, and already the front display window was begin- ning to crack. Spectators were af- raid the heat of the blaze would cause the window to explode open, so most people stood back. Still, no one from the store showed up, so Peter Hvidsten and John McClelland of the Star, with the help of roofer David Barr (in town for a dental appointment) at- tempted to kick the door down. The attempt was unsuccessful, so Mr. Barr sent his wife, Nancy, for a hammer he kept in their vehicle. As Mr. Barr smashed the door open with the hammer, Kathy Dudley of the Star grabbed a fire extinguisher from the office and passed it on to Mr. McClelland and Mr. Hvidsten, who rushed into the smokey building. Within seconds, the flames were smoth- ered, but choking black smoke made visibility inside the store al- most impossible. Thinking of the damage smoke would inflict on the store's thou- sands of dollars worth of stock, staff from the Star and Northern Clothing Company's owner Elaine Vaughan rushed into the store as socn as the flames were out, and began the task of mcving the clothes away from the smoke. At first, the clothes v.. -¢ simply dumped at the Northern Clothing Company and the Star office. Lat- er, they were piled downstairs in the Star basement. Other local store owners and even passersby joined in to help. The job was accomplished in only a few minutes, just as firefighters from Scugog Hall No. 1 arrived at the scene. Shortly before that, the employ- ee in charge of Strawberry Threads, Marg McDonald, was lo- cated. She was shaken and visibly upset as she helped move the clothes out of the smokey store. Although no official estimate of damage was available, the short blaze did cause substantial dam- age. The display window and the front door will have to be re- placed. Clothes hanging in the window were destroyed by fire, and most of the stock was serious- Moments after Bob Walley (right) spotted the fire at Strawberry Threads, a ly damaged by smoke, despite the best efforts of all those who moved it. But as one onlooker comment- ed, "God, it could have been so much worse." Fortunately, Bob Walley spotted the flames before they grew out of control. And the subsequent fast action of David Barr, and Star staff, kept the blaze from destroy- ing the store and spreading to oth- er buildings. "I thought, holy mackerel, if it had caught, the whole row of stores might have caught on fire," S ~ N~ ~ = ~~ Mn Store saved from fire by decisive actions Mr. Walley told the Star. More than a century ago, two fires in less than a year wiped out Port Perry's business section. The first happened in November 1883, when fire broke out in Ruddy's Hotel. The second occurred July 3, 1884, in the sheds of Ben McQuay's hotel. In both cases, townspeople banded together to rebuild. It is re- assuring to see, more than 100 years later, local people pitching in to help their neighbours, and prevent what might have been a tragedy. y . CEALTOH 5 small crowd gathered on the Queen St. sidewalk. Immediately after this photo was taken, David Barr (left) broke through the store's locked door with a ham- mer, allowing Peter Hvidsten and John McClelland (middle) to douse the small blaze with a fire extinguisher. See story for details. 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