‘Saturday Night Lights’ – NOT the good kind; fire guts woodwork shop

Photo/Haley Morris

North-side Front Royal residents were “alarmed” by a Saturday evening (April 29) fire at the end of North Royal Avenue extended.  Multiple units from numerous jurisdictions and volunteer fire companies and career staff responded to the massive blaze.

In the absence of any official release on details at the time of our initial posting on this story, information gathered from observers on site the following day or posting online indicated the “Strong Oak Workshop” near the old VFW headquarters site was fully engulfed around 10 p.m.

Royal Examiner’s on-site investigation verified that it was the woodworking shop that had burned.  The large, old stone building in the shadow of the railroad tracks was completely gutted as indicated by accompanying photos.  Luckily the adjacent auto shop and nearest residence appeared undamaged.

Above and below, four perspectives on the damage to the old warehouse, including one showing proximity to nearby auto shop that appeared undamaged. Photos/Roger Bianchini

A former employee on site told us an initial theory about the cause of the fire was chemicals stored on site and used in furniture finishing had leaked or somehow co-mingled into a volatile combination, starting the blaze in a highly combustible environment.  He identified the owner of the shop as Mike Schmiedicke.  Schmiedicke was not answering at, nor was an answering machine kicking in at the number we had for him on Sunday afternoon.

It is the third building in the small neighborhood at the end of North Royal Avenue extended beyond the railroad crossing to have been destroyed by fire in recent years.  The former Front Royal VFW headquarters site is across the street.  A former VFW employee, 56-year-old Leslie Rose Deavers is slated to stand trial for embezzlement and arson to cover up that alleged embezzlement of the VFW headquarters.

The fire that destroyed the Colonel Samuel R. Millar VFW Post 1860 occurred on July 11, 2015.  The building was a total loss with damages estimated around a half-million dollars.  Following a year-and-a-half investigation, Deavers was arrested on February 8 of this year.

Only a vacant field lies to the left of parking lot where the VFW Post 1860 headquarters used to stand. Photo/Roger Bianchini

According to neighbors, another nearby house, ostensibly a rental property owned by a local public official was also destroyed by fire.  Debris remains piled up on that property, just two lots north toward the river from the site of Saturday’s fire.  Later Sunday, Fork District Supervisor Archie Fox verified that he owned, not only that previously burned house, but also the old stone warehouse that burned Saturday, the latter of which was not insured.

A shot toward Saturday’s fire across the lot where a rental house was destroyed by fire in the past – one still standing home remain after being triangulated by the three destructive structure fires in recent years. Photo/Roger Bianchini

Ironically perhaps, a historical marker at the nearby river bank tells the story of Union Colonel John R. Kenly’s burning of two bridges into Front Royal over the Shenandoah River to cover his unit’s retreat north – Its title: “Torch the Bridges”.

You Yankee dog, Col. Kenly – Civil War marker tells the story of Kenly’s burning of the bridges over the Shenandoah River to cover a northward retreat. Today, the area still smells of burned wood … Photos/Roger Bianchini

Maybe Yankee Colonel Kenly’s ghost is still roaming the neighborhood …