For more than three weeks, the Walla Walla chapter of Goodwill Industries International on 217 E. Alder St. has been closed due to a mysterious fire sparked on the night of Aug. 27. The fire destroyed a Goodwill donation truck, caused smoke and water damage that devastated half the building and racked up more than $100,000 in total property damage.

Although the cause is still unknown, the fire was determined to have originated at approximately 1 a.m. from a stack of boxes piled up in the alleyway behind the building. The truck parked out back and the cargo inside it were completely obliterated before firefighters arrived on the scene, but a much more catastrophic disaster was narrowly skirted as the fire was contained before it could ignite a nearby gas tank. The Goodwill building is currently undergoing extensive renovations and all donations are being received around the corner at 36 Spokane St.

Whitman sophomore and Pioneer editor Alex Kerr was on the scene the night of the blaze and
called it in when he realized what was happening.

“I was meandering to Safeway, and downtown was utterly deserted,” Kerr said in an e-mail. “I smelled firecrackers and saw this plume of brown smoke that I thought looked too dispersed to be a real building on fire. But as I got to about the pub, I could hear crackling, and the smell was strong enough I thought I should run to check it out. I came around the Odd Fellows building and saw a pile of trash on fire with flames about 10 feet high.”

“I called it in, a cop came, then another, then a fire truck and they had it under control less than 15 minutes after my call,” Kerr said. “It was like clockwork. They were all very calm about it, but incredibly focused.”

Store manager Holli Davis was notified of the incident at 6 a.m. the following day and came to work to find the building in shambles.

“It was a mess, a nightmare,” said Davis. “You pull in on a normal day and everything’s fine, you’ve got power, you can get in, and that day, the back alley was blocked off, there’s caution tape all over the place and the power lines were down. It was just a mess.”

“We were very lucky that [the fire] did not get inside [the building],” said Davis. “It was mostly smoke and water damage from the effort to put out the flames. We lost a lot of stuff in the warehouse, we lost a good 20 to 30 boxes of donations, we lost furniture and we lost electrical equipment. The next day, even firefighters that were in training came down to take a look at the damage.”

Davis said that the city fire department has ruled the fire suspicious and the possibility of arson is being looked into. A city fire official stated that the investigation is still open and pending.

The employees at Goodwill have been sent to work temporarily at other Goodwill outlets in the local chain until the store is rebuilt. Although Goodwill is still accepting donations, the quantity of donations coming in has been cut in half since the fire, and many of the donations that would have gone to Goodwill have instead been redirected to other community thrift stores in town, such as the Blue Mountain Humane Society and St. Vincent de Paul. Davis explained that these stores are currently getting overloaded by donations and have been forced to turn away some donors due to lack of space.

The fire and its aftermath have taken a toll on the Goodwill staff.

“I’m exhausted…I’m ready for my store to be back, honestly,” said Davis. “I’m frustrated and I’m angry at whoever did this. I miss working with my clients. We have four of them here and I miss every single one of them. I don’t get to see my employees but for five minutes a day, and then I have to send them to other stores to work. Some people aren’t even working, which is heartbreaking because a lot of people depend on this check. Not only that, we’re a family here, so it’s like not seeing your mom every day.”

Goodwill has been a landmark of the town since the 1970s and this is the first time in history it’s ever been forced to close its doors for a non-business related reason.

Vandalism is occasionally a problem for the store, but never has the extent of the property
defacement been severe enough to warrant shutting down operations.

Davis has been the store manager at Goodwill for eight months and described her time as a “wonderful experience.”

“We support people with disabilities and help them achieve a higher employment opportunity,” said Davis. “Working with our clients, that’s rewarding in itself when they come in and they look forward to seeing us every day and doing their job, and the smile they get on their face, the confidence that it gives them to be part of the work force…that right there is worth everything.”

Davis hopes that Goodwill will be able to open its doors again sometime in early October. The interior of the building is currently experiencing a complete overhaul, new carpeting and paint are slated to go up and the store is expected to have a whole new look and style upon its grand re-opening.

To students who wish to lend a hand to help Goodwill get back on its feet, Davis encouraged, “Donate! And [when we open again], just come in and shop…shop, have fun. If you guys have ideas, let us know because we want to know what we can do to appeal to you to come here, and we love to take ideas.”