Prince Albert Historical Society
It was, according to Prince Albert’s fire chief, Alf Turner, the worst fire in Prince Albert since the 1947 fire which had destroyed St. Patrick’s Orphanage. Chief Turner was commenting on the Avenue Hotel fire which occurred late on the night of January 29th, 1952.
The Avenue Hotel had been built by Michael Tynen in 1906. A neighbouring structure, the Starland Theatre, had been built in 1911, with suites on the upper floors. When the Starland Theatre closed, it had been renovated, incorporating the accommodations on the upper floors and became the St. Regis Hotel.
Shortly after the enlargement of the Avenue Hotel, during which a dining room and additional rooms were added to the upper floors, the hotel’s increased patronage meant that more space was needed. As a result, the St. Regis Hotel was purchased and the St. Regis Hotel became the Avenue Hotel’s annex. It was in the stairway leading from the third floor to the roof of this annex that the fire was discovered by a group of men who were in the midst of a break from playing cribbage. Their discovery resulted in more than one hundred guests who had to evacuate their rooms when this fire roared through the third floor of the annex.
Central Avenue looking north featuring both Woolworth’s and the Avenue Hotel.
James Buga was able to break the glass on the fire alarm, while two of the other cribbage players, Peter Lutic and John Holinchuk, started spraying the flames with fire extinguishers which were located nearby. They were joined by the hotel’s maintenance man, Gustav Richenberg. The fourth cribbage player, Andrew Wizinski, telephoned the hotel desk and then began going door-to-door to notify other hotel guests. He was joined by Hugh Watson, the desk clerk on duty, and other guests who had been aroused by the alarm. The evacuation of the residents began in an orderly manner and, when the fire department and the police arrived, all the rooms were checked to ensure that everyone was out.
The entire Prince Albert Fire Department, whose office was located at the time just across City Hall Park from the hotel, was called out to deal with the fire, and eight police officers, overseen by Sergent Leslie Poole, assisted both in the building and on the street, which was soon thronged by curious on-lookers. Sergeant Patrick Lee and Corporals Reg Brooman and Earl Wilson, being among the first to arrive on the scene, were among the police officers who ensured the hotel’s rooms were safely evacuated.
The fire department arrived on the scene almost immediately from their location at the corner of River Street and Central Avenue. They battled the blaze from the stairwell and from the roof, where the fire had broken through.
No injuries were reported as a result of the fire, and there was no need identified for the use of respirators. One fireman, Bill Watts, narrowly escaped personal injury when he slipped into one of the holes cut into the roof in order to fight the fire from above. Watts managed to scramble out of the hole before suffering any damage, and continued fighting the fire.
In addition to the concern caused by the fire, there was a danger created by the cold weather when the oil burning furnace which provided steam heat to the building had to be closed off. This was due to the water seeping through the floor filling the boiler and furnace pit in the basement. The fire department put pumps to work in the basement during the night, draining the pit, and the heating system was restored early in the morning.
As the alarm was given at 11:30 p.m., many of the overnight guests had to evacuate in their night clothes. One guest, visiting the city from Mildred, Saskatchewan, indicated that she jumped out of bed, put on a coat over her nightdress, grabbed her suitcase and rushed out into the hall. Another individual, who had been a guest of the hotel for over a year, was heading down the stairs and out of the building, when he spotted a person carrying his prized silver tea pot. He confronted the individual and was quietly handed the tea pot before the other man disappeared. A third guest, who had been staying in the hotel for over four years, sat waiting in the lobby, worrying about where she would sleep that night, but more so that she would lose all her worldly possessions.
After the fire had been brought under control, with most of the guests gathered in the hotel lobby, the manager of the nearby Woolworths store, William Caroll, invited everyone into the store for free coffee. During this time, rooms were found in other hotels for those whose rooms were uninhabitable.
Central Avenue looking north featuring both Woolworth’s and the Avenue Hotel.
Tadman’s Ltd. had filled the space which had been the original Starland Theatre, and considerable damage was done to its stock when water poured through the basement. As a result, the furniture store was closed for the next several days, not reopening until Thursday, February 7th.
Ben Tadman and Fred Shnay had originally opened a second-hand business on River Street before going into the furniture business. They had moved onto Central Avenue in the Avenue Hotel building when they required more space and a higher profile. Fred Shnay left the business in the mid-1940s, and Ben had taken his son, Sam, into partnership before retiring in the early 1950s.
The day following the fire the owner of the hotel, Harry Binsky, expressed his thanks to all who had assisted in diverting what he felt could have been a greater disaster. He remarked that the fire department had been both prompt and efficient, and praised the police and other citizens for their efforts.
The provincial fire commissioner, R.E. Tiffin, reported that the cause of the fire had “likely” been spontaneous combustion, originating at the base of a shaft which had originally been used as a dumb waiter. Although the adjusters were still at work, he estimated that the total damage to the hotel and the furniture store would likely be less than $50,000 (slightly under $585,000 today).
Mr. Tiffin praised the Prince Albert fire department and, especially the chief, for the manner in which the fire had been fought. He felt that they could very easily have lost the building without being criticized for doing so. “The chief’s quick and correct decision to move on to the roof of the annex and the quick and efficient action of all members of the department kept the loss to a minimum.”
He concluded that the fire likely started in the excelsior padding around the base of the shaft. The excelsior had been used for insulation. The hotel staff would not, and could not, have been aware of the existence of the excelsior, according to Mr. Tiffin.
Further praise for their efforts was provided to both the fire and police departments by the Prince Albert City Council when they next met.
Very few of the early Prince Albert hotels were able to avoid fires. The Queen’s Hotel (later the Central Hotel) had a fire in 1906. The Prince Albert Hotel (later the National Hotel) burned and was rebuilt, after which it had at least two fires while owned by Samuel McLeod and his son. The Windsor Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1916, and the Empress (later the Astro) Hotel was destroyed by fire in January 1967. The Merchants Hotel (later the Marlboro) and the Lincoln Hotel both had fires, but with less damage.
