Ellen White: Woman of Vision

Chapter 29—The Review And Herald Fire

It was Tuesday, December 30, 1902, a quiet winter evening in Battle Creek. No snow was on the ground. Most of the 300 employees of the Review and Herald publishing house had left their machines and editorial offices for the day. A few workers had come in for the night shift. A. G. Daniells, the newly elected leader of the General Conference, was still in his office on the second floor of the West Building, just across North Washington Street. A little after 6:00 I. H. Evans, president and general manager of the Review and Herald Publishing Company, and E. R. Palmer had met with him to look over some new tracts in preparation. At 7:20 Palmer left, and Daniells and Evans were chatting. WV 416.1

It had been a good year for the Review and Herald—one of the most prosperous. There were bright prospects for a busy 1903 also (Review and Herald Supplement, April 28, 1903). WV 416.2

The tabernacle bell rang, summoning the faithful to prayer meeting. Then the electric lights went out. Daniells stepped over to the window and saw flames coming from the publishing house. WV 416.3

A few minutes before, all had been normal in the big building. The night watchman had just made his rounds through the engine room. Then the few employees at work detected the smell of smoke. Immediately the lights throughout the plant went out, leaving everything in total darkness. The dense oily smoke that filled the building with incredible speed forced everyone to leave hastily; even now some found the stairways cut off and took to the fire escapes. All the workers got out, but one just barely made it, crawling through smoke-filled rooms to safety. The fire alarm had been turned on at the first detection of the emergency. WV 416.4

When Elders Daniells and Evans reached the street, the whole pressroom was in flames. A minute or two later fire engines from the city fire department arrived and soon were pouring water onto the blaze. The whole building seemed engulfed. At no place could any firefighter enter it. Attempts to check the fire were futile. All could see that the flames were beyond control. Brother Robert of the art department saved a few pieces of furniture and some precious art materials, but nothing could be saved from the editorial offices or library. WV 416.5

It was now a little past 7:30; the firefighters directed their efforts toward saving the two-story West Building across the street, and the stores on the east side of the Review plant. Fortunately, the breeze was from the southwest, and the smoke and flames were blown across Main Street into McCamly Park. At WV 416.6

8:00 the roof of the plant fell in, and the machinery on the upper floors began to tumble. By 8:30 the brick-veneer walls were collapsing. WV 417.1

Although there were a number of employees at work throughout the building, none had seen the fire start. It was generally agreed, however, that the fire had begun in the basement in the original engine room, under the dynamo room. The first published report of the fire said: WV 417.2

The very day on which it occurred the chief of the city fire department, in company with the office electrician, made a tour of inspection throughout the building, examining the wiring for the lights and other possible sources of danger, and pronounced everything in satisfactory condition (The Review and Herald, January 6, 1903). WV 417.3

This had been done in consideration of the renewal of the insurance policy on January 1. Fire Chief Weeks, who had directed the fighting of a number of big fires in Battle Creek, was later to declare that he had tried to extinguish every one of the Adventist fires and his score was zero.”There is something strange,” he said, “about your SDA fires, with the water poured on acting more like gasoline” (B. P. Fairchild to Arthur L. White, December 4, 1965). WV 417.4

The Review and Herald publishing plant had grown to be one of the largest and best-equipped publishing establishments in the state of Michigan. Now it was just a pile of rubble. Why? WV 417.5

As some of the board members stood and watched the flames, there must have come to their minds one sentence in a letter from Ellen White, written from California and addressed to the manager of the Review and Herald. It had been read to the board 13 months earlier: “I have been almost afraid to open the Review, fearing to see that God has cleansed the publishing house by fire” (Testimonies for the Church, 8:91). WV 417.6