Looking back on Whalers Wharf fire

Feb. 10--PROVINCETOWN -- When a five-alarm fire destroyed the cavernous Whalers Wharf artisan and craft center 20 years ago, a sprinkler system had not yet been installed.

"It is now," Provincetown Building Commissioner Anne Howard said of the rebuilt steel-frame mall on Commercial Street.

Saturday marks a milestone anniversary of the fire, which destroyed two historic downtown properties, led to the death of a distraught caretaker, disrupted the livelihoods of businesspeople with burned-out shops and left firefighters both lauded as heroes and accused of theft. Residents and others touched by the loss, estimated at more than $5.75 million, have memories that are hard to shake.

"It was terrifying, actually," Provincetown native Mary-Jo Avellar, a selectman at the time, said. Avellar and her husband waited at home, a few blocks from the fire, to see if it would be contained as a neighbor turned a water hose on her roof. The couple had had an arson at another business, so they wondered how the Whalers Wharf fire had started.

"You look back and you just remember how lucky we were with our wonderful Fire Department," Avellar said. "Fire is so scary, especially downtown where the buildings are so close."

At 6:49 p.m. the town's all-volunteer Fire Department responded to a report of a fire at 237 Commercial St., and after the blaze went to five alarms fire departments from all across Cape Cod mobilized through a mutual aid system, bringing 200 firefighters to the scene. The fire was brought under control after four hours and was finally extinguished at 1 a.m.

The fire destroyed 16 businesses in the Whalers Wharf complex, including owner Dale Elmer's The Handcrafter store. Most of the Crown & Anchor Motor Inn to the east was destroyed, including three businesses. Smoke and water damaged Marine Specialities, a store to the west of Whalers Wharf.

The accidental electrical fire was caused by multiple space heaters in the caretaker's room, according to Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the state fire marshal's office.

"My understanding is that he did not have permission to be in there during the winter months, only summer," Mieth said.

Space heater fires commonly occur when power strips and extension cords are daisy-chained, and when bedding, rugs or other combustible material are too close to the heater, Mieth said. "While these fires are not frequent, they are deadly," Mieth said. Three people died last year in space heater fires in Fall River and Milton, where in both cases the heaters were plugged into extension cords.

A fire in Lopes Square this past Memorial Day weekend that heavily damaged three Provincetown businesses is believed to have been caused by an overloaded power strip.

In the 1998 fire investigator's report on Whalers Wharf, however, even after caretaker David Bragdon pointed out one space heater and investigators found another, doubt remained. In the report, the investigator said the burn patterns on the side walls of the building, the lesser damage where the space heaters were compared with some other areas of the building and the direction the fire traveled raised questions about where the fire began.

A Provincetown police officer also had reported that 20 minutes before the fire a full-size pickup truck carrying what appeared to be two or three jewelry display cases had parked near Whalers Wharf and had seemed unusually hurried. The investigator was not able to identify that truck, the report stated.

Two weeks after the fire Bragdon jumped into Provincetown Harbor with weights attached to his legs. He was rescued from the water but died five days later in the hospital. It was his second suicide attempt after the fire, and he had told acquaintances he felt guilty.

Bragdon kept a simple home at Whalers Wharf, with a foam bedroll and a coil-type gray or brown space heater possibly dating from the 1960s, with a handle on top and no protective grille on the front.

The former movie theater, built in 1919, had been converted into artists stalls with leather, jewelry, seashells, pottery and more for sale. A psychic gave readings. A restaurant served food. In the makeshift setup inside the mall, extension cords ran under carpets and behind cabinets throughout the complex, according to the fire investigator's report.

But despite the unsafe physical conditions, Elmer drew artists and potential artists to him with encouragement; a willingness to sell their work in his own shop; the $3,000 summer rent in the mall, with utilities included; and the ability to offer work to tide the artists over during the winter.

"I owe everything that I have to him," said jewelry maker Richard Cuencas, who was with Elmer on a buying trip in Arizona when the fire erupted. They were preparing to go to dinner when the phone rang, Cuencas said. "I picked up the phone. I got the initial message, and then I gave it to him. You know, he was a very calm and collected person. He didn't go crazy."

Instead, Elmer took a breath, Cuencas said. "Like, oh, wow. It was a simple expression."

Elmer's partner, Wendy Christern, also remembers talking to him on the phone. She had heard about the fire from a friend, rushed from Truro to Provincetown and saw a fireball and smoke rising in the sky.

"I could hardly tell him," Christern said. "I was so upset and crying."

After the remains of the burned building were torn down, Elmer put up trap sheds on the empty lot to allow the Whalers Wharf tenants to have a summer season. Then, in a twist of fate, Elmer was brought together with developer Paul deRuyter.

The two happened to share the same doctor in Brewster. Although Elmer and deRuyter did not know one another, their doctor sensed a good match and suggested later that year that deRuyter consider taking over the rebuilding of Whalers Wharf.

"On a cold, cold day, I went out to Provincetown and I found him sitting in one of those trap sheds," deRuyter said. "Dale and I sat in this little shed and just talked. Long story short, Bruce (MacGregor) and I decided to buy. Dale agreed to sell."

In the meantime, five firefighters and one civilian were arraigned in Orleans District Court on charges of larceny and stealing from a fire after historic bricks, jewelry, pottery, polished stones, a wood statue and wooden signs were taken from the fire scene. The charges against two firefighters were dismissed at the request of prosecutors, court records showed. The four other defendants admitted to sufficient facts, and the cases were continued without a finding for a year, after which the charges were dismissed.

As deRuyter and MacGregor developed the new Whalers Wharf they became embroiled in a dispute with a neighbor about the size of the structure, which eventually was settled. At the time, a newspaper cartoon came out calling the new structure "Trump Plaza."

"I can laugh about it now," deRuyter said of the dispute.

The burned-out Crown & Anchor Motor Inn was undergoing change as well, having been bought in 2001 with reconstruction that continues to this day, manager Richard Murray said.

Today, Whalers Wharf is in the hands of MacGregor and Benjamin deRuyter, Paul's son, who since 2006 has been the manager in Provincetown.

"I personally get nostalgic about the building," Benjamin deRuyter said. "I'm in love with Provincetown and in love with working down here. The fact is Whalers Wharf is the reason we're here."

Like Cuencas, many of the artists who lost their inventory and low-rent space in the fire have returned to the new three-story building. Those who knew and were influenced by Elmer, who died in 2015, also have stayed friends and try to get together, Christern said.

"All of us, including me, have been affected by his motivation, his enthusiasm and the way he overcame difficulty," Christern said. "He was humble. He never thought he was so important."

-- Follow Mary Ann Bragg on Twitter: @maryannbraggCCT.

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