By Kyle Troutman editor@cassville-democrat.com

5 make it out of building before blaze

The old Hall Theatre is not salvageable.

That was the prognosis of Chuck Miner, Cassville Fire Protection District administrator, the day after a morning fire gutted the property at the northwest corner of the Cassville square.

The call came in at about 7:30 a.m., and within about 10 minutes, the District’s ladder truck was on the scene.

“When I arrived, I was in my personal vehicle, and Cassville police had already responded to the scene,” Miner said. “Fire was visible on the north side from the center door and window. We deployed a couple hand-lines to help knock it down.”

By the time Miner arrived, five people inside the building had gotten out safely. The fire appeared to have started in the center of the north side of the building close to the door. There is a wall separating where the fire started and the entry to a basement that Miner said was filled with water.

Miner said he was happy with the District’s response time, especially given availability, as all Cassville’s firefighters are volunteers, and the time of day.

“It’s daylight, but that time of morning is when we have school traffic on Main Street,” Miner said. “We also don’t have an overabundance of people during the day. Exeter and Butterfield also responded to help, and Barry Electric was here and quickly cut power to most of the block.”

Miner said once the blaze took hold, it quickly became clear the firefighters were playing defense.

“From the get-go, we knew it was going to be a defensively fought fire,” he said. “We had to put the ladder up, and once you do that, you are pretty much saying the structure is gone. A couple of rooms on the east side were searchable. Once we knocked the fire down on the west side, it was just hotspot control.”

The District’s ladder truck was acquired only three years ago, and Miner said its impact was significant.

“Without the ladder, it would have been much more difficult to control,” Miner said. “We would have only been able to attack from the ground up. This is the first big commercial fire we’ve used that truck for since we got it three years ago.”

The wind at the time of the blaze was blowing north, creating difficulties at times but not putting other buildings on the square in danger.

“The wind blocked our vision for periods of time, especially for our ladder operator,” Miner said. “At times, it was tough to see where to spray the water, especially when the roof started caving.”

The roof caved in fairly quickly, which caused concern for the walls among bystanders. However, Miner said there was never a great worry about the building collapsing.

“You always worry with a large commercial structure fire that part of a wall will collapse,” he said. “That happened back in 1987 when brick wall in that fire on the square gave way. But, because it was a theatre, this building had steel beams, and the theatre survived the fire. Once the roof was breached, the heat exited vertically, and that ventilation helped.”

Crews cleared the scene at about 4 p.m., but they were back an hour-and-a-half later when the fire rekindled.

“We knew that could happen,” Miner said. “I went back by again at about 10 p.m. and saw a small area burning inside that was easy to access. I called for a truck and four of us extinguished that hotspot and waited around for a bit. We haven’t been back since.”

On the day after the blaze, the property housing the Nu-2-U Family Resale Store was closed for business, but the doors were open and fans were set up in the facility.

“We had some water damage from the spraying, and there’s a slight smoke smell, but we are really blessed the direction of the wind was the other way or we’d probably be done,” said Laura Eppling, owner of Nu-2-U. “We are airing out and hope to open back up for business next week.”

Eppling said a volunteer of hers called to alert her of the fire, and when she arrived, she waited for a few hours and unlocked the doors so responders could get in if needed.

“They said it’s better to unlock them if we can than for them to have to break the doors if they need to,” she said. 

Miner said no equipment was damaged, and apart from minor cuts and a trip or two over hoses, no firefighters were injured.

Miner said going forward, because of the damage, the building cannot be fixed.

“It’s not up to me what to do, but once it’s gone — and it does need to come down — parking may not be bad,” he said. “But, there wouldn’t be too many spots there. With a new business, it’s tough because of the investment costs. Either way, it’s not salvageable, and it should come down.”

Eppling said she hopes to see the property used to revitalize the square and the city of Cassville.

“They should demo it because honestly, it’s been an eye-sore for a long time with the trash and cars parked out there,” she said. “I’d like to see them do something there to upgrade the town because people are leaving. We have to make Cassville an inviting place people want to come.”

Diana Doty, whose grandparents Glen and Clairece Hall owned and operated the Hall Theatre for nearly four decades, said she hopes there is a positive outcome from the loss.

“Running the theater brought so much joy to my grandparents and my mother, but I know they would say what mattered was the community it helped build, and not the building itself,” she said. “While it hurts to lose it like this, my hope is that the loss can become an opportunity to continue building community in Cassville in new ways — maybe offices for small businesses, space for youth groups, or a studio for dance and music lessons. I am excited to see what happens.”