to Welcome to Welcome
Owners Dick Lewis and Cheryl Thompson with the welcome sign out Monday
when they opened for business in the new store. The new store was built
at the same site as the old one, shown below as it looked after an arson-caused
fire on September 11 last year. G. Noland photos
Seeley Swan Pathfinder
June 25, 1998
Just over nine months ago, the NAPA Seeley Lake Auto Parts Store was destroyed by fire.
Monday of this week, the doors of a brand new NAPA store in the downtown district opened on the same site as the old store and it was business as usual.
The new store, with 4,800 square feet, is almost double the size of the old store, according to co-owner Cheryl Thompson, and features a high ceiling which will allow for future expansion with "double-decking" of shelves.
The NAPA store lost only five days of sales following the unsolved arson fire last fall, and reopened in a rented building one block off Highway 83. This past week, the owners were closed only three days and moved in record time with a fund-raising benefit for the Seeley Lake Lions Club and First Presbyterian Church.
by Gary Noland
Seeley Swan Pathfinder
September 1997
Five days after a deliberately set fire heavily damaged the NAPA Seeley
Lake Auto Parts Store, the operation is back in business.
Co-owners Dick Lewis and Cheri Thompson watched helplessly early last Thursday
morning as firefighters fought to contain a blaze that blackened the store
fronting on Highway 83 in the downtown district.
They decided they'd be back in business "...around 5 a.m. that morning,"
Lewis said Saturday as he and NAPA employees from around the state worked
feverishly to stock a rented building on Redwood Lane so the business could
re-open.
"We opened Monday morning as planned," Thompson said Tuesday,
"but we're a little rough around the edges."
The two owners talked Tuesday about how they hadn't given much thought to
anything but getting back in business. "Not opening" was not a
consideration.
"I'm not sure it ever entered my mind. It never occurred to us to not
open," Thompson said.
"Fortunately, we had a building available," she said in referring
to a Wilderness Excavating metal shop building owned by her NAPA partner,
Lewis. Thursday, a group of volunteer business people helped clean out that
building which housed Lewis's heavy equipment used in his excavating business,
Friday crews were painting the interior, and Saturday a NAPA truck delivered
new inventory to stock the shelves.
"We're trying to move forward in an orderly manner," Lewis said,
expressing gratitude for the assistance from friends and the NAPA family.
"We had a fantastic day Monday," she added. Many people came in
and bought something as an "act of support," she said. Some sent
flowers. Others said "...they were happy to see us back in business."
Total damage to the NAPA store will take some time to assess, but estimates
range from $100,000 to $300,000.
Some of the inventory might be salvageable, Thompson said, but most of it
will have to be repackaged and that will mean a lot of time and labor expense.
Whatever the damage, it could have been a lot worse had it not been for
quick response and appropriate action by the Seeley Lake Volunteer Fire
Department, which has earned the praise of the store owners, the state fire
marshall, and a detective investigating the incident.
"You can't say enough about them, can you!" Thompson exclaimed.
"They left a clean and tidy crime scene like they had gone to class
and this was the final exam."
Detective Rick Newlon with the Missoula County Sheriff's office, said "...another
five minutes of burn time and it would have burned to the ground."
In praising the work of the fire department, Newlon said he has "...all
kinds of evidence" that he normally doesn't have, but that it's going
to take a lot of lab work.
Seeley Lake fire chief Peggy Westphal said she was "really proud of
the crew going in there and getting the job done."
The alarm was called in by an unidentified person at 2:18 a.m. last Thursday
morning. By 2:26 a.m., eight minutes later, Joe Ellinghouse and Dave Fortune
were at the scene with the first fire engine.
Mutual assistance came from Condon and Ovando fire units and eventually
there were eight fire engines and water tenders, an ambulance, and 21 firefighters
on the scene, Westphal said.
With oxygen tanks stored in the building and potential toxic fumes, firefighters
had to wear breathing apparatus and work in 20-minute shifts. Owner Lewis
pulled open part of the front garage door, allowing firefighters to enter
and remove the oxygen tanks.
Lewis unlocked the front door, so computer business records could be salvaged.
The fire was brought under control in 45 minutes and completely extinguished
two hours later, Westphal said.
Noting some suspicious things, Westphal called in the State Fire Marshall
Bruce Goodwin who advised notifying the Sheriff's office of arson.
Detective Newlon said Tuesday he has been in town talking to people and
"trying to put the pieces together."
"We do have physical evidence, but it is not yet processed," he
said. He said it appeared arson was the sole motive, but there are other
possible theories, he added.
"We're primarily looking for people who saw anything or have heard
anything," Newlon said, urging people to call his office at 523-4810,
Crimestoppers at 721-4444, or himself through 911.
Newlon said fires were started in more than one place, but declined to speculate
on the methods used or how entry was gained.
Thompson said she and Lewis speculated the fire was caused from electrical
problems and that she felt "forlorn" when she learned it was arson.
"You invest so much in it," she said. "Who can be that mean
or evil?" she questioned, adding that she didn't "...understand
senseless destruction."
Also, she wonders if the fire was directed at them (the owners) personally
or if it was a senseless, random act.
"It's a huge inconvenience," she added. "I don't know where
the pleasure is in it."
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