Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Owner says he did no electrical work on second floor of building
While an investigation continues into the cause of the fire that burned down the Brick Wall Bar and Grill the night before its grand opening April 7, an incident regarding paint markings left on the street next to the bar also remains a mystery.
From statements of people at the scene that night, evidence suggests that the white paint appeared after Brick Wall employees left and before firefighters arrived near 4 a.m.
The paint markings are spread over roughly a 12x8-foot area on Beach Street – a dead-end between the 1889 building which housed the Brick Wall and Heritage Park, known by many for its public restrooms.
“It (the paint) was very obvious when we got there,” said Palouse Fire Chief Mike Bagott. “It was still wet and thick.”
Palouse Police Chief Jerry Neumann said the paint was an older oil, lead-based paint.
The markings include a big oblong spot – as if from a pool – along with drips, dabbles and/or a spill, including what appears to be deliberate curving and straight lines. Some have said it appears an attempt at letters can be made out, even perhaps a profanity.
Neumann said the paint did not come from the building site.
“It doesn’t match anything used on the building,” he said.
Building owner Adam Barron is sure the paint markings were not there when he left that night.
“I would have walked right past it,” he said.
Neumann said that the Palouse Police Department is no longer working on the matter.
“It is what it is until there’s further information,” he said. “If any new information comes or somebody wants to turn themselves in then we’ll take that…We got paint in the street. Where it came from I don’t know. Would I like to, yes I would. But it could’ve fallen out of someone’s vehicle that stopped to use the bathroom.”
“It’s definitely an older, oil-based paint. You could tell by the smell,” said Barron, who saw the markings early Tuesday morning after being called to the scene by Chief Neumann at 3:58 a.m.
“Could (the paint) be a part of arson? That’s what we’re wondering,” Barron said. “I don’t think it is, I don’t want it to be. But it’s frickin’ scary.”
No paint can was found at the scene.
Brick Wall waitress Daquarii Rock said that patrons were in the bar until about 11 p.m. Monday night for the soft opening.
She left at 11:15 p.m. while Barron and an assistant manager remained.
Rock said she left from the side door, closest to the front of the building which exits the bar.
Her path to her car parked by the grocery store would’ve taken her right by – or through – where the paint was seen later.
“I’m a notoriously unobservant person,” she said, indicating that she didn’t notice anything. “I was just looking for people, to make sure it was safe for me to walk to my car.”
Marc VanHarn, a 12-year volunteer firefighter who first came on the scene the night of the fire, said he noticed the paint on the street.
“I just assumed that Adam had spilled paint and thought it was odd they didn’t clean it up,” said VanHarn on Monday, while using a scouring pad to rub ash out of his 1956 Cadillac Sedan Deville.
Whether the paint marks are the remnant of a peculiar accident, vandalism or some connection to the fire is unknown.
While a certified fire investigator from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms continues his investigation, Fire Chief Mike Bagott said he expects the fire cause ruling to be electrical in nature.
Barron said there was a large closet with electrical meters in it on the second floor – toward the back of the building.
“We didn’t touch the electrical up there,” he said.
A contractor, Barron performed the electrical work for the restaurant remodeling with some volunteer help.
“Everything was done up to code and done right. All new, new, new,” he said.
The chief indicated he didn’t think the second floor (where smoke was first seen coming from) could be accessed from the old post office on the ground floor, in the back of the building.
“They would’ve had to get up there with ladders to start a frickin’ fire,” Barron said.
As far as the door in the back of the building which Chief Neumann reported was unlocked, Bagott said firefighters didn’t check it.
“We couldn’t prove or disprove it was unlocked, we never went in there,” he said.
While the white paint markings which Neumann described last week as having “scribbling” in it remain on the street – next to a fence around the rubble – Barron wonders about them, although returning to an explanation separate from a crime.
He theorized that it could have been a truck that backed up and paint spilled out as it was leaving fast.
“I think that’s very possible,” Barron said.
In recent months, since the Barrons began work to open the Brick Wall, they said they detected no more anger about the closing of Palouse Tavern, which occurred after Barron served the owners with what he described as an “eviction” notice.
“That’s what we like about this town,” Olivia said. “I’ve never seen anybody that made me nervous or scared at all.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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