Former LeBoeuf's market building, adjoining buildings destroyed by fire

by Dan McClelland

The building complex that once housed the former corner market where for decades residents of the French Village purchased their milk, bread and meat was completely destroyed in an early morning fire yesterday.

The former LeBoeuf’s Market building at 15 Broad Street, the garage behind it and red house next to it on, both on McFarland Street were all lost to the blaze with flames jumping jumped high into the air by 6:30a.m. It could be seen vividly from blocks away. The fire department was called out at 5:50a.m. and arriving there the firefighters found the buildings fully involved.

Volunteer firefighters here battled the huge fire valiantly for hours. Even two hours later the fire continued to consume the old buildings and volunteers were on the scene most of the morning. Firefighters from Paul Smith’s-Gabriels, Saranac Lake, Long Lake also responded to the conflagration. The Piercefield volunteers stood by at the Tupper station.

For the Schuller family here and for the families who lived there, it represented a huge loss.

Watching his investment burn up, Mr. Schuller was unsure how much insurance he had on the building, if he had any.

His son, Joseph, had recently moved back to Tupper Lake from California and purchased the red two-story house next to the garage which was also destroyed in the multiple-building blaze. That property was reportedly insured, according to the senior Schuller.

The garage was the headquarters for Tupper Lake’s popular garbage man, Fred Schuller. One of his pick-ups parked on McFarland St. and his dump truck, parked on the opposite side of the building, exploded in flames at one point early in the fire. A car parked next to the pick-up on the McFarland St. side was also destroyed by fire. Only shells of the vehicles remained.

Mr. Schuller purchased the former convenience store at county public auction over ten years ago and did considerable renovations to the building over the years, fashioning two apartments.

The Rick Bolia family was renting the first floor apartment. The Michael Thompson family, with two small children, lived in the upstairs apartment.

Fortunately no one was seriously injured. Firefighters had to climb ladders to the second floor window to rescue two adults from the upper apartment, as the flames roared overhead.

The local fire department used its aerial platform truck to rain water on the blaze for hours. Multiple hose crews poured water on the buildings from all sides.

Rick Bolia said that morning he wasn’t at home at the time of the fire, but his teenage son woke up coughing from the smoke in their apartment.

The fire is believed to have started in the garage where Fred kept a wood stove to heat it. Mr. Thompson had been apparently using it as late as Monday evening, and may have forgot to secure it before heading back upstairs to his apartment, according to Mr. Schuller.

As a safety precaution the village electric crew was asked to kill power on the Broad Street circuit during the fire which left some residences as far away as River Road in the dark for several hours.

Superintendent of Schools Russ Bartlett released an emergency call to all families with children in school here, via the district’s emergency telephone system, about 8a.m. yesterday. In the message, he explained because the L.P. Quinn Elementary School was without electricity and because of the poor air quality in and around the middle/high school, several blocks from the fire scene, an emergency dismissal had been called, where middle/high school students were dismissed at 8:45a.m. and the elementary students about 15 minutes later.

Most of the fire was extinguished about 8:30a.m. At about 10a.m. a large excavator was brought in that started tearing down the burned and still standing walls of the three structures.

The Broad St. circuit and the neighborhoods it serves was re-energized by the electric department shortly about 10:15a.m.

Hundreds of feet of hose was used by the various departments- tapping hydrants on Wawbeek Ave. and all around the scene.

By 10:30a.m. the various departments were spreading out their hoses on the bottom of Broad Street and rolling them up.

The fire was so hot at one point it melted the vinyl siding on a garage directly across McFarland St.

During the fire two people were transported by the Tupper Lake Volunteer Emergency and Rescue Squad to the Saranac Lake hospital.

Firemen were able to prevent the huge blaze from spreading to the Bob Fletcher house across a driveway next door. The back of Mr. Fletcher’s adjoining garage did, however, sustain damage when it caught fire at one point.