Volunteer efforts bloom for burned-out flower shop in Friday Harbor
FRIDAY HARBOR, San Juan County — As thick smoke continued to blanket the 1-square-mile town yesterday, dozens of townspeople rallied around the owners of a burned-out floral shop, helping them regroup for Mother's Day weekend, the busiest one of the year.
Flower wholesalers from the Puget Sound area worked the phones Thursday night and assembled a truckload of flowers — asters, tulips, wax flowers and snapdragons, among others — which they ferried here yesterday afternoon.
Earlier yesterday, a Tacoma wholesaler flew in everything from roses to daisies and fuchsias to lilies.
The assistant manager of the Friday Harbor Ace Hardware & Marine store offered space to put floral orders together. Hardware-store employees were busy removing sodas from refrigerators to make room for a kaleidoscope of blossoms in pink, purple, yellow, red and white. They set up tables and culled supplies for the countless local volunteers who've come forward to assemble bouquets.
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"We're just doing what little we can," said Barb Porter, assistant manager at the hardware store. "People are just not going to get a cold soda for a few days."
"Everyone's calling and offering. It's unbelievable," said Julie Werling, who owns the burned-out San Juan Florists with her sister and mother. "I do feel like a charity victim," she added.
Werling said she moved to Friday Harbor in 1985, and "it's just been like family. It's very cool."
"I can't even describe the feeling," said her sister, Lisa Zschiesche. "It's the most best thing in the world."
Now, the 130 people who ordered bouquets for Mother's Day need to call the florist's voice mail and reorder.
Fire broke out in a downtown building housing the floral shop and four other businesses just after 3 p.m. Thursday. It took more than 70 firefighters four hours to get the fast-moving blaze under control, and the building continued to smolder and flare up yesterday.
An excavator was brought in to pull down what was left of the building, and firefighters hosed down the sometimes still-burning debris as it was scooped up and placed in a large garbage bin.
Besides the flower shop, the fire destroyed the Friday Harbor Grocery, Friday Harbor Souvenir and Gifts, the Hungry Clam restaurant and the Mystical Mermaid gift shop. No injuries were reported.
The main goal yesterday was to put the fire out and dissipate the smoke, which was laced with harmful fumes from cleaning products sold at the grocery, said Friday Harbor Fire Chief Robert Low.
The fire began in the refrigerator compressor room of the grocery. Fire investigators believe the cause of the blaze was electrical, and an electrical inspector is expected to go into the building today.
"With only four compressors in there, it's down to four possibilities," said Rick Galer, the San Juan County fire marshal. "Any one of them could have come apart and started this."
The 12,000-square-foot building was worth at least $500,000, not including its contents, said Dennis Bergquist of Crawford Technical Services, the building's insurance company. "That's probably conservative."
Property owner Gordy Petersen began making cleanup arrangements and plans to rebuild.
"I'd like to build it the way it was and get the businesses back up and operating," he said. "I'd feel a lot different if somebody was injured. It's not a tragedy. It's just a loss."
The business owners met with insurance adjusters and tried to let the reality of the state of their livelihoods sink in.
"Today we're pouting," said Wendy Beckler, co-owner of Mystical Mermaid. "That's seven years of feeding (the business) and growing it in there."
But throughout the day, little joys helped soften the damage.
Jana Defreece, who works at a shop several doors down from those that burned, went through her closet and grabbed five purses. She gave them to friends who lost theirs in the blaze.
"A girl's got to have a purse to carry her stuff in," she said. She filled one purse with makeup, hairspray and glow-in-the-dark nail polish.
Tabatha Evans, who worked at Mystical Mermaid, was thankful to learn that a firefighter had rescued Mr. Bubbles, a 7-year-old fan-tailed goldfish, from the shop.
And the owners of San Juan Florists welcomed the support of not just the Friday Harbor community, but the larger floral community as well.
"I've worked in this industry for 25 years, and I can't imagine what they're going through. It's horrific," said Diane Lagerstedt, owner of Floral & Hardy, a flower wholesaler based in SeaTac. "They could just take the insurance money and walk away. Instead, they're trying to do it."
Lagerstedt called other wholesalers and florists Thursday. Along with Floral & Hardy, donations came from Evergreen Wholesale in Seattle, Keith and Martha's Garden in Burien, Sheely's Floral and Gifts in Anacortes, and Washington Floral Service in Tacoma, she said.
"In our industry, we work with people at emotional times, and so we'd better be able to pull together for one of our own," Lagerstedt said. "Hopefully, they'll be able to put (Mother's Day) back together."
Gina Kim can be reached at 206-464-2761 or gkim@seattletimes.com.