A fire of unknown origin burned for about 10 hours before being controlled Friday, March 20th; investigation results may be long term
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Jack Blossman, Captain of SSVFD, walks slowly in exhaustion across the parking lot for an interview with this editor after finally combating the Lowe's Market fire this past Friday, March 20th. This camera caught the Captain in its lens but several other very tired VFD firemen were trailing behind him. Photo by Donna Webb -
Shown is the southwest side of Lowe’s about 10:30 Friday morning with the fire put out, smoky and billowy due to winds. Apparently, the fire broke out in the early morning hours with the cause not known at this time. Traffic on Wallace Street had been diverted until about the time this picture was taken. Photo by Donna Webb -
Lowe’s Market shown Tuesday, March 24th, about mid-morning. Charred remains are seen still standing with the Lowe’s sign standing proudly untouched. Temporary relocation plans and remodeling are underway and may come to fruition as early as this coming Saturday. Photo by Alice Smith
Sometime between midnight and 1:00 a.m. this morning (Friday, March 20th), a fire began inside Lowe's Market in San Saba and the local Volunteer Fire Department (VFD) responded to the fully engulfed building. Jack Blossman, Captain of the San Saba VFD, stated "I was the first one in the building. . . and the inside was on fire. . . not the units at the back of the building. . . but the inside of the store."
Captain Blossman said the flames inside the building were so hot that he and several other firefighters had to quickly evacuate the building. He also shared it took until about 10:00 this morning until the fire was under control.
Assisting San Saba VFD were other local VFDs such as: Richland Springs, Cherokee and Elm Grove. In addition, Captain Blossman stated "our sister department - Mills County - responded and helped us in this battle."
San Saba VFD doesn't have a Fire Marshall on staff but utilizes a Texas State Fire Marshall. With that said, and due to the recent coronavirus upset and lockdowns, Captain Blossman related "it may take awhile" before the origin and cause of the fire is known.
Captain Blossman wanted to thank all the members of his team plus the other VFDs who assisted in fighting and putting in the long, arduous hours to eventually get the fire under control: Fire Chief Chris Stewart and the San Saba VFD; Fire Chief Jeffrey Bates and the Richland Springs VFD; Fire Chief David Norris and the Elm Grove VFD; and Fire Chief Michael Garcia and the Cherokee VFD. He especially wanted to thank and show appreciation to Fire Chief David Schwartz and Mills County VFD "who are always there to help us."
Finally, Captain Blossman wanted to thank Sheriff's Chief Deputy Dwayne Shaw for taping off the area, as well as directing and diverting traffic away from the hazardous area during the firefighters' battle with the blaze.
Since Lowe's Market was the only grocery store in San Saba, I placed a call to Tony Jacobs, previous owner of G&R Grocery (now closed). When Mr. Jacobs returned my call, I asked if he had plans to reopen G&R and he stated he offered an extended (24 months) lease option to Lowe's. "It's all set up. . . with all the racks and everything. . . they (Lowe's) could be ready within 48 hours. . ." Mr. Jacobs added he is just waiting to hear back from Lowe's now. . . "it's up to them."
Lastly, I received an email from Anita Alvarez, Office Manager at Heritage Funeral Home in San Saba, who stated that Dr. Mercer is in the process of developing ways to overcome the holds, closures, and lack of water/foods/supplies to gather a good quantity of such to bring to San Saba. Apparently, Dr. Mercer travels to Austin and Dallas and some of the larger cities frequently and may be privy to larger supplies of food and/or non-perishables. Ms. Alvarez stated she would keep me in the know as soon as she heard back from Dr. Mercer.
In conclusion, amid all the confusion, uneasiness and fear regarding the COVID-19 health situation, this community now has the additional worry and anxiety of where one can go shopping for bread, milk, meat, butter, cereal, potatoes, tomatoes. . . and the list goes on and on! However, where do the people of San Saba go now. . .now that G&R is closed. . . now that Lowe's Market has burned down? Even yet, what about the jobs of those who worked at Lowe's?
Addendum on March 24th:
Lowe's has turned down Mr. Jacobs' offer on G&R's lease option. They are now in the process of restructuring the empty Albert Stovall building (formerly housing Everett's Furniture & Emporuim) for a temporary Lowe's Market with plans to open this Saturday, March 28th. In the meantime, Lowe's has a van making trips to their sister store in Llano for those who need food.
In addition, San Saba County Ministerial Alliance created one large food pantry soon after Lowe's fire. San Saba citizens in need were able to obtain food each day thereafter at this large food pantry, even up to this writing.
Yesterday morning, the Early Chamber of Commerce set up donation stands near the main highway in Early and accepted food donations for the community of San Saba. Later that day, the Early Chamber brought two vans of food donations to San Saba and dropped them off at the Catholic Church for today’s planned distribution to anyone in need. This editor noted a long line of cars at the church for quite some time today during the donation process. On Wednesday, March 25th,
On Wednesday, March 25th, the Central Texas Food Bank, which is the Mobile Food Pantry that serves San Saba twice a month, will be ready to service recipients without question as this will be considered a disaster food distribution. The food itself will be prepackaged and boxed and recipients will pick up their food by a drive-thru line at the Civic Center as directed by Food Pantry volunteers.