FH Fire

Oh no! Too bad. The story did not mention any injuries or deaths so that, at least is good. The building, as well as Downriggers, contained offices for the whale watching business at which both Jim and Joan worked; a good marine service/maintenance business, and a few other small businesses. This will have a very big impact on the town. How sad.
 
Sorry to see that! We had a few good meals there. Certainly fully engulfed from those photos! Also still well into the tourist season, so it will have a lot of impact on the other businesses.
 
colobear":2ot4hesx said:
Oh no! Too bad. The story did not mention any injuries or deaths so that, at least is good. The building, as well as Downriggers, contained offices for the whale watching business at which both Jim and Joan worked; a good marine service/maintenance business, and a few other small businesses. This will have a very big impact on the town. How sad.
Click to expand...

It's been a LONG day. :cry: One of our busiest days on the water, and this catastrophe. I'll write up what went down, but no one was hurt. The building is a total loss. The Fire Department let us back in briefly, and we got a great deal of the important stuff out of our office... with water dripping through the light fixtures. Downriggers burned and collapsed. The offices under that all suffered major smoke and water damage. We were fortunate (??) to be the office closest to the water. The firemen saved some of our computers, put file cabinets on top of our counters, put tarps over all of that... I am absolutely in awe of what those people did for the business. The boss, Joan and I emptied the office of all records, computers, file cabinets, boat parts, etc, etc. Joan knew just what to take to keep the business running... she is truly the hero to this business.

In amongst it all, we were shuttling athletes and media to a major event on Lopez Island (Fisherman's Bay).

Another business in town let us use a conference room, and we set up our "temporary nerve center." We had employees directing athletes and media folks to our boats (that had been moved to other places in the marina).

Other employees moved all the stuff we got out of the building to a shop at our boss's home - the "business" part of the business will be run from there for the rest of the season. The firemen carefully removed signs from the building so we could use those to direct people to our temporary location. Within a couple hours, we had a "kiosk" set up in the Memorial Circle. Joan ran copies of all our appointment books so each place could have records.

Stuff is scattered (we have some business stuff in our boat), but the business is still running... we just don't have a waterfront office to work out of.

I have tears in my eyes as I'm writing this. It is a loss... this place has been our "home" for two summers. Some here know Downriggers, but this office was where we started our day... and it has been a LOT of days. The Marine Center next to us could not get anything out because of concern the ceiling would come down. Same with the Yacht Sales on the back side. Another whale watch place was allowed to get their stuff out briefly, too.

I ran shuttles in the morning, was the first one in the office when the FD allowed us in, and I locked the doors when we took what we could. Then, I got back on one of the boats and ran more shuttles. Joan has been setting up a temporary office, directing people, and keeping things flowing. We swore we wouldn't "take ownership" this year, but we were both in tears when we were allowed in the office.

We both got back to our boat late today, smelling of smoke. I need a shower and an adult beverage.

Thanks for thinking of us. We're OK. My heart hurts for this business and the others that suffered such a loss.

Jim
 
Oh my what a shame. This year was our first FH Gathering and the Downrigger restaurant was part of the experience. We have our photos for memories. Glad that no one was injured or worse.

Martin.
 
Jim & Joan, When I read the news from FH I knew it was your office that was in the building. I'm so sorry that this has happened. I was so happy to have met you in June in FH. They are lucky to have such a great couple taking care of business. Our thoughts are with you.....

Margaret & Gene Morris
 
We just saw the awful news on TV. What a shame, good memories of meeting other folks there during the FHCBGT.

Read Jim's accounting of the events and knowing how much Jim and Joan put their hearts in the whale watch business makes me really sad. They sure went to work to salvage as much as they could and the FD did a great job. We hope Downriggers and the other businesses will rebuild. I'm sure the Friday Harbor Community will do all it can to make that happen.

Sending our thoughts to all involved.
 
I read Jim and Joan's blog almost every day. Scooters to home repairs, it is like knowing them and being a part of their lives. We all feel for you two and your current business relationship. I was just thinking - what a blessing the boats are OK and no one was hurt. These kind of posts are why so many of us belong to the C-BRATS. Lord bless you two.
Bob
 
Jim is a hero for another incident later in the day. He describes a person falling overboard from his yacht, just in back of the boat Jim was driving. Jim rescued this fellow--and I suspect that Jim makes this seem a bit easier than it really was. All of this after spending probably 13 hours working on the boat, lifting and carrying heavy files, organizing and helping his boss and Joan.

Thanks for the reporting--and thanks from all of us for being the type of people who others look up to!
 
My heart goes out to Jim, Joan and everyone impacted. Downriggers will always be special to me as it was the first time we met the cbrats in person - everyone was so welcoming, friendly and taught us so much. We were looking forward to many more meals and gatherings at Downriggers.

Martha
 
We will be having a gathering at Friday Harbor again next May Downrigger's or no Downrigger's. My personal preference is to do everything we reasonably can to support them and, if they can find a way to offer a place for meals Patti and I will do our best to include it in the gathering. We brats got a lot from them and IMHO we ought to do what we can to help them recover.
 
OH MY! Been offline with internet problems most of the weekend, what a heartbreaking story. Glad there were no injuries, sounds like Jim and Joan are hard at work at usual, hope recovery is as fast as it can be.

Charlie
 
Susan and I were married in Friday Harbor and the next morning the whole wedding party had breakfast at Downriggers. It was are first breakfast as a married couple together. Sad to see it go but I truly doubt that is will not be rebuilt in the near future. Its just to valuable to be left empty. I cant imagine that it would take until next may to rebuild. I am sure that we will be eating there at the FH gathering in the spring.

Jim, Its just a building. the JOB is the boats, crews and clients. Paper work can be done anywhere. If your boss has not found a replacement location by the end of the week maybe you should make him a offer on the business.
 
starcrafttom":1a3kw2ji said:
Susan and I were married in Friday Harbor and the next morning the whole wedding party had breakfast at Downriggers. It was are first breakfast as a married couple together. Sad to see it go but I truly doubt that is will not be rebuilt in the near future. Its just to valuable to be left empty. I cant imagine that it would take until next may to rebuild. I am sure that we will be eating there at the FH gathering in the spring.

Jim, Its just a building. the JOB is the boats, crews and clients. Paper work can be done anywhere. If your boss has not found a replacement location by the end of the week maybe you should make him a offer on the business.
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Thanks for the suggestion, Tom. I owned businesses most of my adult life - not interested in another. To the best of my knowledge, it is not for sale. The boss has it under control. We are up and running; didn't miss a beat. Boats are full, guests understand, and everyone is pulling together. Phones and internet are functioning in our temporary location (that we were in while the fire was still burning), and we have a table at the waterfront to check folks in. Business as close to usual, considering the circumstances.

The Port council will be having an emergency meeting in the next few days; in the meantime, there are insurance issues that have to be addressed. No one can even begin to speculate (with any certainty) what the Port's decisions will be. That building is on Port property. Downriggers owners did not own the building; they leased the space, just like the other businesses in the building.

We are having hundreds of people each day ask: Now what? What caused the fire? Are they going to tear down the rest of the building? Etc, etc. We are not in that loop.

Jim
 
So sad. People's dreams...up in smoke. Their employees, now unemployed. Downrigger's was where M and I had dinner on the night I asked her to marry me and we always enjoyed our meals there. Glad no one was hurt or worse.
 
Awful sorry to hear this sad news. But out of tragedy come heroes, and Jim and Joan are special people. Glad now one was hurt, and the whales are still being watched. Hard to think of Friday Harbor without Downriggers. Bet it is back soon, at least we hope so.

I haven't been on the site for a while and a friend told me about the fire. the Brat site confirmed it. Great site, great people.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon
 
Jim and Joan,

Oh what a tragedy, I didn't realize your business was in that building. My heart goes out to the both of you and the business owners of not only your business but the other businesses in the building, as well of course Downriggers Restaurant. Such a shame that this had to happen in the middle of the summer season. But I'm glad that you two are ok and there were no injuries or fatalities. Take care, our thoughts are with you.

Peter & Caryn
 
For those interested, the Port Commission emergency meeting is 4:00 today, at the Friday Harbor Yacht Club. Input from the public will be allowed.

Here's the rub: private businesses leasing space in a city-owned facility (The Port of Friday Harbor manages the marina and the airport). There is a contingent who feels this space should be converted to a public (possibly green space) space... much like the completely under-utilized building on the Spring Street Pier, or the Brickworks building, both that contribute nothing to the local tax coffers.

Influence is being wielded by those who have no investment nor consequences. At this point, nothing can be done until the remainder of the building is condemned or deemed safe by the city. You can be sure any building process this close to the waterfront will undergo extreme scrutiny for permitting.

There are all kinds of insurance rumors, that are just that: rumors. Speculation without substantiation is just gossip.

Joan and I plan to attend the meeting, to show our support for the businesses displaced. It should be interesting. If anything definitive comes of this, you can count on a post here.

Jim
 
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