A ball of flame raged into the night sky, and the putrid smell of burned beans prevailed for two weeks — memories of one of Powell’s worst fires in history 50 years ago. 

The Jan. 21, 1966, inferno — exactly 50 years ago today — wiped out the Powell Bean Company mill and with it nearly 45,000 sacks of stored beans, owned by about 150 local bean growers.

The entire mill, elevator, office and storage facilities at Powell Bean’s plant between the canal and the railroad tracks on South Bent St. were lost in the blaze. The site is the present day home of Simplot Soilbuilders fertilizer plant.

The total loss was estimated at $500,000 — at the time the worst fire in Powell history

Gone in three hours

The fire broke out about 9:30 p.m. on a Friday night and burned the bean mill to the ground in three hours, toppling the high elevator tower into a pile of burnt rubbish. Flames shot 400 feet into the air. There was no chance to save anything touched by the inferno, despite the fact that the Powell Fire Department was just across the canal and the highway, within a couple hundred feet.

Tremendous heat was generated by the blaze — even in the sub-zero January temperatures. The temperature read minus 4 degrees when the fire erupted.

Though almost helpless to fight the flames, Powell firemen and volunteers who pitched in to assist spent a long weekend in mop-up. Firemen were on the fire line until 3 a.m. Saturday. Then, working in four-man shifts, they maintained an around-the-clock guard at the scene through the remainder of the night and all day Saturday and Saturday night.

On Sunday, the full fire department put in another three-hour stint of soaking the rubbish. The stored beans were still smoldering Monday, and smoke continued to pour from the debris.

Slurry spray to no avail

An attempt to quell the smelly remains with a bentonite slurry solution didn’t quite get the job done. In a hopeful attempt authorized and paid for by a New York insurance company, Weir Battershell of Powell engineered the slurry spraying operation. Some 380 bags of bentonite were sprayed from a Halliburton Co. tank truck on the Monday and Tuesday following the fire. 

The slurry reduced the smoke from the refuse, but didn’t eliminate it. The smell was still apparent after a day and a half of spraying. 

Unfortunately, the fire in the beans themselves wouldn’t stop burning until the bean piles could be moved.

Stored beans were insured

Meanwhile, insurance companies and Powell Bean officials were meeting to conclude their investigation. Powell Bean Company had 100 percent insurance coverage on all beans stored in the mill. Bean growers were to be compensated for the loss at market price.

Six days after the fire, the insurance companies and Powell Bean were in enough agreement to begin a salvage removal operation. It was good news for Powell residents, especially the South Powell area, which was increasingly bothered by the smoke and smell. Both the fire department and the city were receiving complaints.

Any beans that could be salvaged were hauled to the sugar company stockpiling area off North Street in the southeast section of town for sorting and shipping. Unusable materials, including beans, were hauled to the old city dump (this was before the landfill was in operation).

It took 11 days before the refuse could all be loaded and hauled away from the site of the fire.

Sign tells smelly story

During that time, the smell persisted, and the complaints poured forth. Finally the stink got to be too much for someone.

A new sign appeared at the east entrance to Powell on Coulter Avenue, erected by someone who had endured all they could of smoke and smell. Attached to the highway department’s official Powell population sign was a hand-painted message: “This Town Isn’t Dead. It Just Smells Like It.”

The chamber of commerce had a new project: to overcome the tag that “Powell is the smelliest town around.”

The last beans were loaded and cleared away from the site of the fire Sunday, Feb. 6. With the removal operation completed, the smoke and smell were finally gone.

The beans which could be salvaged were sold to Consolidated Milling Co. of San Francisco, California. The estimated value of the salvaged beans — a total of 10,000 sacks — was between $25,000 and $30,000.

Most of the salvaged beans were purchased for livestock feed.

Cause just a theory

The State Fire Marshal’s Office came days after the fire to investigate, but the cause remained speculative.

Fire Chief Hank Baird theorized that a faulty electric heater may have been the cause of the disaster. 

“I’m not sure, but it looks like it may have been caused by an electric heater in the restroom,” Baird said at the time “There is evidence that it was a slow process fire that smoldered in the building before bursting out in full.”

There was no visible sign of an explosion. Lewy Gillett, manager of Powell Bean, said he had no idea what might have been the cause.

A total of about 35 firefighters, including volunteers, were on the fire line Friday night. The Cody Fire Department sent two trucks down to aid the fight, and Lovell and Byron fire departments were standing by to help.

Fortunately no wind

“Fortunately, there wasn’t a breath of wind,” Baird said. “If there had been, we would have lost everything along the railroad and possibly in a greater area.”

As it was, the tremendous heat from the fire was enough to contend with. 

“We had to periodically wet down the Big Horn Co-op building and elevator across the tracks,” Baird said. “Whenever we sprayed it, the steam just rolled off.”

Heat was so great it melted two flashing dome lights on the fire trucks. People in the fire department yard across the canal said it cracked the windows of the fire station.

The fire was completely out of control by the time firemen arrived from just across the street. 

“There was terrific heat in there,” Baird said. “We couldn’t do anything inside.”

Fran Scranton was a Powell High School sophomore in 1966 with an interest in photography.

He was taking a photography class taught by Del Somer. Scranton was intrigued enough by photography that he owned his own slide film camera, a 4x5 Graflex Speed Graphic camera popular with the press.

On the night of the Powell Bean Company fire, he was returning home from the Powell-Thermopolis basketball game at PHS Gym and happened on the fire scene just after firemen arrived. His photographs that night are the best historical images of the disaster.

Scranton, who now lives in Worland, went on to shoot for the Powell Tribune as a staff photographer while he completed his PHS and Northwest College education.