January 19, 1995

MARFA –– Fire razed Marfa City Hall early Tuesday morning, including the police and emergency medical service departments, taking with it many city records and all the computers, furniture, fixtures and EMS supplies.

A team of three investigators and an accelerant-sniffing canine with the Texas Commission on Fire Protection from Lubbock were to begin sifting through the rubble Wednesday afternoon to determine the cause and origin of the fire, Deputy State Fire Marshal Allen Neighbors said Wednesday in Marfa. He said nothing, not even arson, is being ruled out at this time.

The Texas Rangers and the 83rd State Judicial District Attorney’s Office also were on hand Wednesday to conduct investigations. But some Marfa officials said arson appears unlikely and it may have been electrical in nature. A small ballast fire in a light fixture at City Hall several weeks ago is believed connected to Tuesday’s fire.

Marfa firefighters said the fire appeared to have started in the ceiling inside the building above

the mayor’s office, according to the way the blaze acted when firefighters entered the building,

exposing the fire to oxygen.

Marfa Police Chief Rusty Taylor said there didn’t appear to be any signs of forced entry into the building, which had been closed for three days since Monday was a holiday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. It still is unknown how long the fire may have simmered, but it

was reported by David and Ellen Kimble at about 5 a.m. Tuesday when they were awakened by

smoke in Kimble’s studio, the Palace Theater. The theater and City Hall share a common wall. The theater and its contents sustained major smoke and water damage and some fire damage.

It was reported that once the fire was completely involved, flames shot as high as 40 feet or

more. Alpine Volunteer Fire Department firefighter Shannon Bonham said he and five other Alpine volunteers who came to Marfa to help out spotted the flames when they reached the Marfa Lights viewing site about nine miles east of town, and smoke could be seen in Paisano Pass.

No one was injured in the fire, but four Marfa fighters were treated for smoke inhalation and

released from the Marfa Rural Family Health Clinic. Mayor Fritz Kahl said quick and professional work by the Marfa Volunteer Fire Department more than likely spared the rest of the block from going up in flames. Mother Nature was on the side of firefighters Tuesday morning and the wind was calm.

With the state fire folks on the scene, city crews began removing some of the rubble, which still was smoldering Wednesday afternoon. And while initial reports indicated all records were lost in the blaze, some records, although not unscathed by the fire, appear to be usable. Salvageable paperwork may include utility, property tax, general business, police and municipal court records. The city noted that all insurance was paid up and in full force at the time of the fire.

In addition to help from Alpine firefighters, Marfa firefighters received assistance from the Fort Stockton fire department and the Fort Davis EMS Department. Before it was City Hall, the building, which is decorated with black tiles and wrought iron, served as U.S. Army Air Corps

headquarters when the military had a presence in Marfa in the 1940s.