Looking Back: Massive fire inside Idaho Falls hotel sends guests fleeing to the streets; and man miraculously survives crash
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IDAHO FALLS — EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of March 16 to March 22 in east Idaho history.
1900-1925
LORENZO — A man claimed his father, who was living in Lorenzo, was the oldest man in Idaho, The Rigby Star reported on March 18, 1915 (The article was originally published by the American Falls Press).
The article said Dr. Woods Hutchinson, physician, lecturer and author, made a statement that there was not a “single verified instance in ancient or modern times where a human being lived to be more than 101 years of age, and very few who had reached 100.”
A man named William Morgan said he knew a man who was either 110 or 111 years old. The man was his father Thomas Morgan.
Thomas was born in Hereford, England, in 1804 or 1805. He was one of Utah’s pioneers and lived in Lorenzo at the time the article ran in the local paper. At 90 years old, Thomas married his fourth wife.
“Mr. Morgan would like to hear from anyone in Idaho who can dispute his claim that his father is the oldest man in the state,” the paper reads.
1926-1950
IDAHO FALLS — A massive fire broke out at an Idaho Falls hotel and a city waterworks employee died while trying to help firefighters, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on March 17, 1940.
The fire happened on a Friday night at 11 p.m. inside the Eleanore Hotel in downtown Idaho Falls. Forty-two of the hotel’s 50 rooms were occupied when the fire started, but all guests managed to escape.
“Tenants were forced to flee to the safety of the street. Many did not take time to dress and shivered outdoors in their pajamas and bathrobes,” The Post Register said. “Many were almost overcome in their mad dash through the smoke-filled hotel halls.”
One man reportedly carried his wife out of the building when she collapsed on the second floor from the smoke. And about eight firefighters escaped serious injury or possibly death when they were on the top floor, and a portion of the roof caved in.
“Those who did not manage to dodge back to safety were protected by their helmets,” L.G. Jackson, fire chief, explained.
Frank Miller, 58, a city waterworks employee, was walking towards a firetruck that was pumping water for the hose lines on the roof when he had a heart attack and died.
Herman Drewes, waterworks superintendent, said Miller and other city employees are always called to help on “bad fires.” He said their job is to help with the hose lines and “cooperate as best we can.”
Mayor Chase A. Clark saw Miller fall to the ground and helped police get him to the L.D.S Hospital. However, Miller was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital. He was married at the time of his death.
Investigators determined that a cigarette or a match started the fire. Jackson, who led 40 firefighters and volunteers in a four-hour battle against the flames, said the fire started in a waste paper chute.
“The chute was apparently clogged with waste paper near the ceiling of the first floor,” the chief said. “I believe someone tossed in a cigarette or a match, and the refuse ignited.”
He continued, “The burning waste paper dropped down to the basement, and the flames rapidly ate their way into a nearby freight elevator shaft and roared up to the attic of the building.”
The hotel was valued at $40,000. Damage was estimated to be at least $20,000.
1951-1975
SODA SPRINGS — Four boys in Caribou County were discovered with 75 pounds of dynamite in their possession, The Caribou County Sun reported on March 21, 1957.
A man called the police, saying he saw the boys playing with dynamite. The boys were about 10 years old, and they had a case-and-a-half of dynamite.
Deputy Sheriff Herb Walters found the boys and confiscated the dynamite. The boys told Walters they found the dynamite under a bridge on the road to the Fowler Market’s slaughterhouse.
“They opened one case and had peeled the paper off one stick,” the article explained. “There were no caps with the dynamite.”
1976-2000
INKOM — A 24-year-old man was lucky to be alive after getting in a car crash on Interstate 15 south of Inkom, the Idaho State Journal reported on March 17, 1977.
Delbert Call, of Logan, Utah, was driving a 1975 small-model Pontiac. His vehicle and another car had stopped for construction work on the freeway when they were struck from behind by a semi-truck driven by a 57-year-old from Oregon.
Call was knocked unconscious, and when he came to, he asked an Idaho State Journal reporter who was on the scene, “Would you tell me what happened to my car?”
Call was able to stand up and get onto the stretcher, where he was then transported to Bannock Memorial Hospital. He was listed in good condition. The paper described his survival as “a miracle.”
The woman who was driving the other vehicle that was hit by the semi-truck was in critical condition.
