For those that haven't heard, the Howard Fire Department was paged out at approx 3:45 AM on 12/6 to assist the Grenola Fire Dept. with a business structure fire.
Sad to say that the Grenola Cafe had a fire and burned down. Crews from Howard, Moline, Longton, Elk Falls, and Cambridge responded but the building was engulfed upon arrival. We were able to isolate the fire to the one building and no other businesses or buildings suffered damage.
Sad to see another business lost :(
Indeed, that is sad news. Grenola has such few places of business, and that little cafe was a bright spot in
the community. Thanks to all the firefighters for their help.
How sad to hear this. When I came through this last time, I stopped at Grenola, drove around a little, (the museum was closed). I almost stopped and went in the restaurant because I had heard how good it was, but was still full from eating at the Swinging Bridge in Moline. Decided I would eat there on the next trip.
Thank goodness you all kept the fire from spreading. That was good work on your part. I am so sorry to hear about the cafe. Poor little Grenola is sure struggling keeping something going in the town. I wonder if they will try to put another cafe in somewhere.
What sad news, but I'm glad no one was hurt. We haven't been to Grenola yet, so I'm not familiar with the town. Was this the only cafe? What was it called? I tried to "Google" it but there were a half-dozen different names for a cafe in Grenola, including the Swinging Bridge or Hanging Bridge. Just curious.....
The café in Grenola may have been the only business on main street. Someone will probably prompt me if I am incorrect.
At one time it was called the Bank Cafe and then True Grit Cafe but I do not know what the most recent owners called it.
It was housed in a former bank and the last time I was there the vault was used for storage.
I have been there for a meal at least through three owners but had yet to make it over since it last opened.
I belong to the Grenola Historical Society and have been through the museum a couple times. Most local museums will open when called upon but this museum has regular operating hours due to some grants received to fund staffers. Thursday through Saturday 10:00 am to 4:00 pm was the latest I am aware.
The Swinging Bridge Café is in Moline and is another place I frequent when I come to Howard. They should be moving out to the old nursing home this month.
Dan Cookson,
Per above, the Howard Fire Department responded to the Grenola fire.
What did the Elk County fire department do?
I understand the Howard fire trucks are housed next to city hall.
Elk County fire trucks are a few blocks away housed next to the ambulance service. I know they have a tanker. What else to they have?
If there is a fire out in the county and the Elk County fire department responds, is it the same fire firefighters who respond for Howard?
Is Danny Signer fire chief for both?
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It's just like looking at the old Corner Cafe in Moline. Just thinking about it makes so many scenes run through my head. People and places, loved and missed.
W. Gray,
I can help you a little on your info - Howard and Elk Co still have 2 separate fire dept - Howard located next to city hall and Elk Co located next to Ambulance barn - old school cafe and shop bldg. Danny S fire chief for Howard - Jim Criger fire chief for Elk Co. Elk Co has several trucks with tanks - mostly set up for grass fires - the tanker is currently down - needing repairs - the Elk Co Fire Dept is out of budget til the beginning of '08 - so things are pretty tight. We (the County) have discussed joining forces with the cities on their fire depts and it would benefit most of the towns in Elk Co except for Howard. Howard's rating is good and by combining with the co could actually lower it. I believe there are still separate crews on response although they do intermingle. We are luckily that both Howard, Elk Co and the other ELK Co towns still have great volunteers and I must emphasize VOLUNTEERS - this is a dying breed...And our chiefs have done a good job in training and trying to keep our equipment up to standards. We need to do more to thank Dan C. and the rest of the firefighters for the job they do. They have had a rough year for structure fires and last year it was a mean year for grass fires... Thanks guys and gals!
Thanks,
I was curious.
I have only seen the County make a run once--a couple years ago. The tanker driver was driving like a maniac. However, I am sure he thought he was doing his job trying to get to the fire as fast as he could.
I can remember the fire engine that is now in the Gragg museum being in the single garage across from the post office next to the alley. Even then it was a relic.
Wow, Liz. You are a weath of information when you log in. Good thing you don't log in too often; not sure we could handle all your information at once! ;D
Well, even if they are not official volunteer firefighters, we have to remember all the farmers/ranchers that also help fight fires in rural areas. I know that Perkins has a dedicated truck with a water tank on the back that is ready to go most of the year. Chuck has gone and helped neighbors many times (and neighbors have helped him) with grass fires in the area. I even stood guard outside Jim's house with a little water hose because he was out of town and a pasture fire was getting pretty close (not sure I could have done much with my little water hose, but I was going to try).
That's some food for thought, too... we get the volunteer firefighters trained, but maybe there should be a short basic training for all the farmers/ranchers in the county, too. I know a lot of them already know how to start fires and use backfires, but some general safety (and first-aid) might not be a bad idea.
What a good idea. My husband knew a lot about burning pastures, etc. when he became a volunteer at Severy. The training he received (mostly from more experienced fighters) covered things that farmers don't generally know. If some classes could be arranged and the farmers can find the time to attend them, the whole county would benefit.
Thanks, Liz, I just learned something also. We have no county fire departments here. We can call the state forestry folks if we need them, and many of our big industries have on site fire brigades to handle little fires or get started on the big ones until the local fire companies can get there. Our 911 dispatch system is through the county.
Have they determined the cause of the fire?
Or a guess, if not an official cause?
SORRY FOR NOT GETTING BACK WITH INFO :-[
I have been swamped at work and had not had time to give the forum any love!!! Mom sent me an email and I logged in to see that Liz did a better job of answering the question than I would have!!!
The one thing we have that is official is a Mutual Aid agreement with the Moline Fire Dept. What that consists of is when our pagers go off, they are immediately called out. When they get called out, our pagers go off. We have verbal aid agreements with the other departments in the county as well. Basically if the fire is bad enough, we get paged out to help because of the manpower and the equipment that we have.