Memory of Fire Still Blazing

Time hasn't healed the wounds left by a 2002 fire that destroyed nine buildings along State Street's 200 block. Village officials are still unsure what will come of the 2.2-acre black eye being used as a municipal parking lot.
Albert Rounds, a Carthage resident since birth, can name all nine shops that were lost in the 2002 fire. Mr. Rounds and his wife, Patricia, live across the street from the site of the March 2 fire that left about 150 people homeless five years ago.
The couple was awakened in their apartment in the early morning hours by their landlord telling them to evacuate immediately.
A blaze that began about 5:30 a.m. in the Harold Johnson Auction store directly across the street was spreading into adjacent buildings, and residents from both sides of the street were told to flee.
"We looked out the window and saw flames coming from the building," Mr. Rounds said.
As firefighters from Jefferson and Lewis counties doused the flames, Libero A. "Bill" Intorcia's doughnut shop, 266 State St., across the street became a temporary shelter for displaced residents.
A FIERCE CONFLAGRATION
John P. Storms was chief of the Carthage Fire Department at the time and was one of the first firefighters to arrive at about 5:50 a.m.
"When we arrived on the scene we just wanted to take control of the fire suppression," he said.
The heat was so intense, crews battled the blaze from outside, and when allowed to enter the buildings, teams were given set amounts of time to extinguish certain areas.
"A few times we sounded the horn to get the guys out before their time was up," Mr. Storms said. "There were signs the building wasn't in good shape."
While crews battled the blaze, Lynn M. Thornton set out on foot from her Bridge Street home toward the large plume of smoke drifting westward from State Street.
The town of Champion historian walked across the bridge and, once in Carthage, began snapping photos on her digital camera.
"I knew this was going to be an all-day affair," she said. "You could see this was going to spread."
After taking photos of the conflagration, Mrs. Thornton walked back to her house and uploaded the photos to a Web site that she presents to classes in the Carthage Central School District.
She returned to the site five more times that day to document the fire's progression eastward toward North Mechanic Street.
"I wanted firefighters to be able to go home that day and not only tell their families what happened but also to show them," she said.
PRESERVING HISTORY
Mrs. Thornton returned to the site more than a dozen times in the next two months to document the demolition and removal of the remaining materials.
"I wanted to do my job as a historian," she said.
That included talking with fire investigators about the fire of 1884 that started in West Carthage, spread over the river and reached as far east as State Street.
"They wanted to know how much burned and where it started," she said.
The fourth-grade teacher talked about the fire with her pupils during the following weeks.
"It didn't go away right away," she said. "The kids really needed to talk about it."
Memories from the fire still haven't dissipated.
Mr. Rounds said the view from his apartment above the Chatterbox Diner, the former Intorcia's doughnut shop, has changed.
"The sun rises a few hours earlier," he said.
The buildings that once stood on the west side of the street blocked the sun from entering his apartment until nearly midday.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Replacing the buildings is still an ongoing project.
The Carthage Coordinated Development Group LLC, which consists of Carthage Area Hospital, Economic Development Corporation of Carthage and Carthage Industrial Development Corp., has purchased 11 of the 12 properties that border State, North Mechanic and Spring streets.
The remaining site is owned by Bruce M. and Stephenie D. Clemons, owners of the former Clemons Heating & Plumbing building at 281 State St.
John F. McHugh, community coordinator for the EDCC and the CIDC, announced the Clemonses had agreed to sell the property in August for $30,000 but no final transaction has taken place.
The 2,400-square-foot parcel is assessed at $4,600, according to Jefferson County real property rolls.
In August 2004, Carthage Area Hospital proposed to build a 58,300-square-foot nursing home on the site but has yet to hand in the proper paperwork to apply for a certificate of need from the state Health Department to operate the facility.
A report released last year by the Commission for Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century said that no more beds are needed in the county, effectively killing plans to build the State Street home.
The proposed 80-bed home would have employed 91 workers with a payroll of $2.4 million.
For now, the fire site remains a municipal parking lot.
A few thousand dollars left over from the $200,000 New York Main Street grant the CIDC received in January 2005 will help landscape the lot this spring.
"The hard part is to figure out how much we want to invest in the site," Mr. McHugh said.
Landscaper Dudley C. Breed Jr., Syracuse, was hired to plant trees and landscape. Mr. McHugh said that while adding a gazebo would look nice, the landscaping is a temporary fix until either the nursing home or another project comes to fruition.
EVOLVING VILLAGE
Even though very little has changed on the fire site, much of downtown has received a facelift.
Grants from state Main Street grant program along with Community Development Block Grants have financed the reconstruction of almost a dozen facades on State Street businesses.
"I don't know how you can drive through downtown and not say 'wow,'" Mr. McHugh said.
Storefronts that once sat vacant now hold businesses like Carthage Fine Chocolates, Asylum Ink and Stefano's Pizzeria, whose original shop was a casualty of the 2002 fire.
Of the nine storefronts from Spring to Mechanic streets, only two do not have businesses in them.
"They've all pulled together and that's why it's a great place to work here," Mr. McHugh said.
A million-dollar grant from the Restore NY grant program was received last fall to fix the century-old Buckley Building at North Mechanic and State streets.
"The fire site and the Buckley are the two big projects that we're looking at right now," Mr. McHugh said.
While eating at the Chatterbox Diner on Wednesday, both Mr. and Mrs. Rounds agreed the friendly atmosphere and the low crime rate make the village a prime place to live.
"When you come in here and the tables are full, you can come and pull up a chair next to someone who's eating," Mr. Rounds said. "It's just a nice town to live in."