By David Lindeman

Contributing columnist

There was a big barn fire down the street from me the other day. I was away from home, so I missed all the action, but I didn’t miss out on the smell afterwards. For a couple days it was best not to go outside or at least hold your breath if you did.

This got me thinking about fire. Human beings have an interesting relationship with fire. Way back in the beginning, when Og looked out of the cave where he was hiding from a thunderstorm and saw a lightning bolt striking a tree and setting it on fire, man started to think fire could be a useful thing. Og was right. It keeps you warm, cooks your food and is perfect for roasting marshmallows.

On the other hand, fire can be a really big problem. It consumes everything in its path – the Great Chicago Fire is famous today more than 150 years after Mrs. O’Leary’s cow got blamed for starting it. And that wasn’t even the worst fire of the day! The Peshtigo fire happened at the same time in Wisconsin, with up to 2,500 people losing their lives. Everyone was so busy talking about Chicago that they forgot about poor old Peshtigo.

I can remember lining up at the door for fire drills at St. Patrick’s when I was a kid. The nuns always said that if there were a fire, we should stay calm and walk to the exit. I’m glad I never had to decide between running away from a fire and risking the wrath of one of my teachers for breaking for the door instead of calmly walking to the exit. Our big worry wasn’t a fire, anyway; we also spent time hiding under our desks in case the Russians dropped a nuclear bomb on us, which seemed like kind of a pointless exercise.

I also remember the Pereyma farm fire when I was a kid. It was almost right next to where the recent fire took place, just south of I-75 on Peters Road. It was one of the most exciting moments of my young life. You could see the glow from the fire from our kitchen window. I remember standing there at the window transfixed as fire trucks raced up and down the road to refill water tanks and empty them on the fire.

There also was the Uhlman’s fire in downtown Troy in 1970. I was in eighth grade then and the fire was a big deal. Newspaper accounts from the time said that flames reached several hundred feet into the air and fireballs the size of grapefruits shot around the square. People at Dettmer Hospital, now the site of Upper Valley Medical Center, could see the flames.

The Uhlman’s building had been covered over with some kind of ugly siding, which was kind of a thing back in the 1960s. It all kind of melted during the fire. I remember going up to the square after the fire and wondering how they would ever get it all cleaned up. They ended up hauling the remains away and creating Prouty Plaza.

Troy has a history of spectacular fires, although thankfully usually many years apart. One of the most famous was the Methodist Church fire on April 2, 1899. It actually was Easter Sunday and the church burned to the ground, to be replaced by the current church at the corner of Franklin and Cherry streets. By the way the Harter family, which built the house across the street from the church that is now the Elks Club, donated a large portion of the money to build the new church.

Then there was the Troy Carriage Company fire. If you drive by Herrlinger Park today, you’ll see a water tower, a basketball court and a few trees. But years ago that property was home to a five-story factory that produced carriages. There was a lot of wood in those buildings, and when they caught on fire reportedly you could see the smoke as far away as Vandalia.

The barn fire the other day was nothing like that, although it did provide a little excitement for the neighborhood and for people on I-75, who had a clear view of the fire as they drove by.

Considering that it has been hot and exceptionally dry here lately, it probably is a good idea to keep any fires at least for the foreseeable future contained to your barbecue grill. Save those marshmallows for another day.

David Lindeman is a Troy resident and former editor at the Troy Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected].