Saturday marked the 50th anniversary of the infamous 1974 Main Avenue Fire in downtown Durango that destroyed six buildings and killed two first responders.
The tragic event lives in the minds of Durango’s first responders and helped evolve Durango Fire Protection District’s downtown fire suppression tactics.
At 3:50 a.m. Aug. 24, 1974, a call alerted the Durango Fire Department that Herb Williams Lumber Co. near Camino del Rio was on fire. At 3:55 a.m., another call came in saying The West Building, on East Second Avenue, was also on fire.
But when the Durango Fire Department arrived, firefighters realized both callers were mistaken and the smoke was coming from a fire in the 800 block of Main Avenue that would destroy six historic buildings.
Durango firefighter Nick Parks III and Durango Police Department Cpl. Gale Emerson were killed while trying to save residents in apartments above the Taylor-Raymond Jewelry store when the building exploded.
Another responding firefighter, Ben “Butch” Gomez, was blown underneath a nearby parked car but somehow survived. Emerson had been off the clock by 3 a.m. but was at a nearby gas station when he noticed the smoke coming from Main Avenue.
“It’s a reminder for us, and the police department as well, what the dangers of the job are,” said Durango Fire Chief Randy Black in an interview Tuesday. “Neither of those guys went to work that day realizing it was going to be their last day.”
The Emerson-Parks Memorial Bridge that crosses the Animas River at 32nd Street is named after the police officer and firefighter. And Durango Fire plans to honor Parks in the memorial garden of its new fire station.
The incident was the impetus for starting the Hundred Club of Durango, a nonprofit dedicated to providing financial assistance to the families of local first responders who are severely injured or lose their lives in the line of duty.
Black said fires in downtown Durango are often the most dangerous. Firefighters must respond to the fire while also assessing danger to its staff and keeping the public away. And based on the building’s location, it can be hard to assess the best access point.
Part of the reason the 1974 fire got out of hand was that it happened early in the morning and fewer people were around to call it in, Black said. During the 1970s, there was less emergency communication and Durango Fire Department did not have the same technology.
Now, the fire department has compressed air foam systems that more efficiently extinguish fires. Crews are communicating with dispatch at all times and are using thermal imaging cameras to find out how hot materials are.
When there’s a fire downtown, often firefighters will set up on street corners and assess the flat parts of a building where it could potentially collapse. The red pickup trucks on Durango fire scenes transport spotters who for potential collapse points and track the location of firefighters inside the building.
“A lot of that was learned at that event,” Black said. “It’s changed how we fight fires downtown. It’s changed how we respond to calls, making sure that we’re in teams, have accountability and that we’ve got radios.”
Durango Police Chief Brice Current said police are often first on scene because officers are on patrol at all hours of the day.
Often, police officers will secure the scene during fires.
In the case of Emerson, he wasn’t on duty but understood that he had the capability to save a life.
Emerson and Parks were both 24, and both of their wives were pregnant with their first children.
Parks’ widow, Loretta Parks, said every Aug. 24 is a bittersweet memory. While she lost her husband when she was almost eight months pregnant, she knows he was doing what he loved to do and helping others.
“It was such a terrible happening for the whole community,” she said.
The fire took more than 24 hours to extinguish. Nine businesses were destroyed, including Gardenswartz Sporting Goods, Thompson Saddle Shop, City Taxi, Taylor-Raymond Jewelers and Chez Louis, a French restaurant. Others were seriously damaged, including the Kiva Theater.
When their daughter was born, she was name Nicole “Nicki” Parks in honor of her late father. As time passed, Loretta recalls watching Nicki grow up and take on her father’s personality traits.
“She’d give me this mischievous little grin that was so much her dad,” Loretta said. “And it was just very comforting.”
It was comforting for her to know Nicki was an extension of her father and grew into the person they both hoped she would be. Also, she received community support based on the media coverage at the time.
She received a letter from a resident who was saved by Nick Parks after a car crash.
“He helped take care of her and get her out of her vehicle, then she was transported to the hospital,” Loretta said. “It was so nice to get her letter knowing that not only did he just fight fires, but he also helped people.”
A more difficult pill for Loretta Parks to swallow was learning the true cause of the fire.
Originally, the cause of the fire was attributed to a faulty electrical box. But that would change more than a year later.
The fire was discovered to be the work of local arsonist, 25-year-old Gilbert F. Martinez. Martinez had been arrested in connection with another arson in November 1975. While in custody, he admitted to starting the Main Avenue fire.
Martinez told Durango police that he started the fire because he was mad about being evicted.
Parks remembers when she found out the fire wasn’t accidental.
At the time, she was working for the city manager and one of her late husband’s friends, Danny Goodwin, who was a police officer. Goodwin pulled her aside and told her the cause of the fire was arson.
“I just thought, ‘Oh, my God, this just cannot be,’” she said.
His case was moved to Breckenridge in Summit County because of concerns about his ability to receive a fair trial in La Plata County. Martinez’s first two trials ended in mistrials because jurors questioned his mental competency.
But before a third trial, Martinez pleaded guilty to setting a separate fire in Durango, and not guilty by reason of insanity to two counts of murder, for Emerson’s and Parks’ deaths, and three counts of first-degree arson.
Martinez spent 18 years at the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo until his release in 1994.
“It was just very unfair. Like, buddy, you don’t deserve the right,” Loretta said. “And then we were very concerned that after he got out of that mental hospital, he was going to come back to Durango, and I think a judge or someone prevented that from happening.”
A judge placed restrictions on Martinez’s freedom, including that he was not allowed to return to Southwest Colorado or drink alcohol and must continue with therapy.
But in 2005, Martinez petitioned to have the restrictions lifted and the judge agreed. His only limitations were that he wasn’t allowed to vote or own a gun.
Today, the fire has set a standard for how local fire agencies evaluate fire code, Current said.
He said fire-related deaths are less frequent than they were 50 years ago. The main reason is that fire marshals have been enforcing codes and building are being developed with fire safety in mind.
“It’s more finite,” Current said. “They actually figured out a way to prevent people from dying from fires. Most schools and buildings now use fire resistant material, as well as sprinklers, alarms and warning systems.”
tbrown@durangoherald.com
