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Source of fire still unknown, fire officials say

Concrete residents came together this past Sunday as they watched a piece of history go up in flames.

The former Concrete Elementary School building was destroyed in a blaze that took nearly 24 hours to put out. Firefighters were busy early this week monitoring and cleaning remnants of the fire, said Concrete Fire Chief Rich Philips.

The three-story building caught fire early Sunday afternoon and was reported to the Concrete Fire Department at about 1:45 p.m. Several neighboring fire crews responded including Grassmere, Birdsview, Punkin Center, Lyman and Burlington fire departments.

The fire grew in intensity, spreading into the woods which required assistance from the Department of Natural Resources.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, Philips said, but it is suspicious because there was no power to the building. Skagit County Deputy Fire Marshal Kelly Blaine is investigating the case.

“Electric fires are pretty common in households, but there’s no chance of that here,” Philips said.

However, he said officials do know the fire originated in the southwest corner of the building.

Concrete Mayor Judd Wilson said the fire was a “big blow” to the town as many people drove to Concrete to see the castle-like structure. Now people are coming to see the damage, he said.

Wilson said the crowd at Sunday’s fire scene made the town’s annual summer weekend festival look like a small event.

“This was big. The whole town came looking at it,” he said. “There were more people on the road in Concrete than there are at Cascade Days.”

Property owner Jack Clifton said he was notified of the fire on his property but had yet to see the damage at the time of printing. Clifton, who lives in Bellingham, purchased the property in 1990.

He said he didn’t realize how “spectacular” the intensity of the fire was or that the building had been destroyed.

“It’s sort of a big chunk out of my life,” Clifton said, who lived in the building for several years while remodeling the structure.
Construction to the building slowed down several years ago as Clifton was unable to come to Concrete as frequently as he would have liked, he said.

The building was constructed in the early 1900s and served as the town’s elementary school. The Concrete School District sold the building when the schools relocated to the current location near the Concrete Airport.

The building was purchased in the late 1980s and then sold again to Clifton.

Clifton said he didn’t have firm plans for the building when he purchased it nearly 20 years ago, but said he thought it could be a place for shops and a bed and breakfast.

He had made some remodels to the structure that gave it the look of a midievil castle — like the construction of several castle “turrets.”

There may be mixed feelings within the town about the fire as some people thought the structure was an eyesore while others saw it as a piece of the town’s history being destroyed and are sad to see it go.

Clifton said he’s pretty unhappy about the fire but that he’s not surprised since the building has been burglarized and “ransacked” the last few years.

“I loved the building,” Clifton said. “I think it had great possibility and I didn’t have the money or energy to do it right.”