Newspaper 'not stilled' by huge fire

At 11:20 p.m. on Wednesday, March 28, 1979, firefighters from the Carson City Fire Department were called to a fire at 200 Bath St. By 1 a.m., the Nevada Appeal's press room, composing and business offices had been destroyed.

The work of an arsonist, damage was estimated at between $300,000 and $500,000. Though its offices weren't set to rights for another year, the 114-year-old paper never missed an edition.

The following are the headlines and first paragraphs of the region's newspapers published in the days following the fire.

"Fire Guts Appeal, newspaper's operation wrecked"

"The blaze that gutted the Nevada Appeal building on Bath Street late Wednesday is under investigation today by officials from the Carson City Fire Department, who refused to confirm or deny reports that arson is suspected and that the building had been forcibly entered." - Nevada Appeal , March 29, 1979

"Carson City loses newspaper to fire"

"A fire of unknown origin engulfed the Nevada Appeal on Wednesday night as its editor donned an air tank and firefighting garb to join in a fruitless attempt to save Nevada's oldest daily newspaper."

- Las Vegas Review-Journal, March 29, 1979

"Inferno engulfs Carson paper"

"A blaze that firefighters termed the worst in recent years in Carson City erupted late Wednesday night in the offices of the Nevada Appeal newspaper." - Nevada State Journal, March 29, 1979

"Arson probed in Carson newspaper fire"

"Carson investigators are looking into several possibilities, including arson, in connection with the blaze which caused substantial damage - but did not still - the Nevada Appeal late Wednesday night." - Reno Evening Gazette, March 29, 1979

Former Carson City sheriff's detective Joe Curtis said the fire was definitely the work of an arsonist and, though they think they know who it was, they could not gather enough evidence for an arrest.

"We know where the accelerant was put down on the floor, how he trailed it all the way down the hallway, which door it went out of and where it was lit, but tying it to a person was an impossible task. There were no witnesses, nobody saw vehicles in the area.

"I remember one individual we really keyed in on. From an investigative standpoint, we thought we had him, but we could never prove it, for court purposes," Curtis said. "He was not a longtime employee, as I recall, kind of a menial employee. I don't remember him as a real player in the organization."

Other reports surfaced in the following days.

"Deadline met in LV, arson-caused blaze guts Carson paper"

"Arson is 'strongly suspected' as the cause of a blaze which left the Nevada Appeal newspaper office a jumble of heat-twisted desks, soggy rubble and charred rafters, state Fire Marshal Tom Huddleston said Thursday." - Associated Press

"Arson likely in Appeal fire"

"There is a 'strong probability' that the Wednesday night blaze that heavily damaged the Nevada Appeal was caused by arson, Nevada Fire Marshal Tom Huddleston said Thursday after a daylong examination of the ruins turned up nothing conclusive." - Reno Evening Gazette

"Middle-aged man sought in Nevada paper fire"

"Investigators, convinced that arson cause the blaze which ravaged the Appeal newspaper office in Carson City, said Saturday they want to talk to an unidentified middle-aged man who reported the blaze late Wednesday."

News reports said the fire started near the center of the building in the circulation department, spreading to the editorial offices and then throughout the building.

The open attic and no sprinkler system gave the fire lots of room to spread. A steel door and fire walls kept it from the press room.

Steve Frady, former chief of the Storey County Volunteer Firefighters and past editor of the Appeal, got a call at home in Virginia City that night from Fire Station No. 3 Capt. Jim Powell, who told him the Appeal building was on fire.

"I flew down there," Frady said. "When I got there, Fire Chief Bernie Sease told me to go in on a hose crew and help the firefighters.

"Roy Koon of Warren Engine Co. was working an aerial from the front side of the building. I was working a 2.5-inch line from the back.

"There was this stubborn hot spot in the ceiling. Every time we'd think we had it out, here it'd come back at us.

"We didn't know it at the time, but we were pushing the fire back and forth."

As crews mopped up, Frady shed his fire gear, packed, and jumped on a plane to Las Vegas.

Using the presses of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a suite at the Frontier Motel, editor Sue Morrow's home and offices at the South Lake Tahoe Tribune, the Appeal published its Thursday paper as usual with front-page photos and a story on the fire.

Kelli Du Fresne is features editor for the Nevada Appeal. Contact her at kdufresne@nevadaappeal.