Most of those familiar with Astoria’s history are aware of the 1883 fire and the 1922 fire. But there was a third fire, in early June 1877, which burned several blocks around Fifth and Astor streets, up to about Eighth Street.

It’s a safe bet most people don’t even realize there was a fire that year, but Liisa Penner, Clatsop County Historical Society archivist, found an article in a June 1877 Weekly Astorian, “Astoria singed!,” that revealed the “first fire of consequence in Astoria” started under Mr. Borglund’s ’49 Saloon on Astor Street.

Mr. Holden, who was standing in a nearby doorway, spotted the fire under the building and reached it when it was still a burning pile. He thought he could probably put it out with one bucketful of water but no bucket was handy.

He dashed off, grabbed an iron pot and filled it from a tub, but spilled the water on his way back to the fire. By the time he got there it was too late, anyway; the blaze was already spreading rapidly, beginning to envelop surrounding buildings.

A citizen bucket brigade, taking water from the nearby swamp, and the Astoria Fire Department’s old hand pump engine brought the fire under control, but it had already caused a considerable amount of damage — $20,000 to $30,000 then, about $509,000 to $763,000 now.

“But for that fire engine that has been condemned and offered for sale,” the article said, “Astoria might now possibly be in ashes … We may consider ourselves lucky to be let off so easy.” (Photo of 1922 fire courtesy of Clatsop County Historical Society)