Message From Jim Allen To The Future: This Is How You Can Never Go Wrong

 COUNTRY JOURNAL SPECIAL FEATURE 

A Story Honoring Jim Allen 

The Night Jim Allen Saved Parks Place Supermarket From Burning To The Ground... And Became An Unlikely Hero 

On July 19th, 2024, longtime Copper Valley resident Jim Allen passed away. Jim was known throughout the region for working at – and starting up – a number of service businesses. In January, 1987, he told the Copper River Country Journal the story of what happened to him in 1974, when he had just come to the region. He was working at Parks Place, on the night shift. (For those who are new the valley, Parks Place was the original name of what is now the IGA.)

The story of what happened was headlined in the Journal: "From Big City Klutz To Town Hero" and shows the valor of ordinary people who are frequently called upon to step up and save the day in difficult situations in our part of the Alaska wilderness.  And the way the Copper Valley has traditionally pitched in to help when needed. 

Jim gave a heartfelt message to his fellow Copper Valley residents in that tale – and to the people who would read his story in the future. 

SEE JIM'S OBITUARY IN THIS JOURNAL

Jim Allen in 1987, when he told this story to the Journal. (Photo, Journal archives) 

Jim Allen Recalled A Fateful Night...

Park had just hired me a few weeks before, in the fall of 1974. Up until then I was an all-night stocker at Safeway in Anchorage. Being used to stocking shelves the Safeway way, when we would get a truckload of groceries in at Parks, I would stay all night and put them on the shelves.

People thought I was crazy, but I enjoyed closing the store and taking off my shoes and turning the tape player on full blast and really getting into some serious stocking.

After closing the store, I would haul all the boxes out on the floor, then spend most of the night putting the contents on the shelves, breaking the boxes down, and piling them in the aisles. When I was finished, I would begin the cleaning part.

On this one night, I had finished stocking, and was taking my first load of cardboard to throw out the back door when I saw a small fire in the middle of the trash piled there.

I slammed the door and began a series of mistakes. I ran to the sink and filled a mop bucket with water and ran back to the door. When I opened it, I saw that small had turned into large. I think I threw the water on it, but I can't remember. I reslammed the door, and ran to the phone. 

I found the phone book, and dialed the first fire department number I came to. I was new to Glennallen, and didn't know that an 835 prefix was Valdez. After repeatedly trying to reach the Valdez Fire Department, I gave up and called Park [Kriner – the owner of Parks Place]. I told him I was at the store and it was on fire, and I couldn't get ahold of the fire department. He said he would try.

I hung up the phone, and ran to all the doors, and propped them open. (Mistake number 3.) As I was doing that, I noticed the semi truck parked alongside the building. I knew that was Park's pride and joy, so I thought I would at least try to save that. I grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran to the truck. 

It was pulled up to the trash pile. The trash all around it was on fire. I climbed in and tried to start it, but it was too cold. It wouldn't even turn over. So I jumped out, and took the fire extinguisher and sprayed it, to try to save the truck until the fire department got there. I was doing a pretty good job saving it until the darn thing sort of just melted and blew up.

So there I was. Four a.m. No coat. Standing in the parking lot, shivering and shaking so bad that I couldn't control it and scared to death at being in trouble with my new boss. Then the fire department came. Soon after, Park came, too. He parked his car out on the highway and ran across the ditch toward the store. 

I was still standing there, and had realized my mistakes one by one, when the firemen right away closed the building up tight, after I had opened it wide. Park ran up to me and threw his arms around me and said, "Jim, you saved my store! It would have burned to the ground if you hadn't been here!" 

Well, suddenly I wasn't the klutz from the big city. I was the hero in a small town. In my frantic state, I was worrying about all the things I had done wrong. And Park, in his frantic state, found the one positive thing… I had spent the night here, not because it was part of my job, but because it allowed me to stock the shelves my way.

That was my first experience seeing a small community pull together and help someone out. There were probably more than a hundred people there that night. There were no looters. It was 30 below, and people were freezing, trying to save that store. And it was saved. Only the semi and that one side were lost. 

The fire, it was assumed, came from a smoldering cigarette in the laundromat trash dumped earlier.

So, the next time you go into Parks, please look around and realize that he works hard to sell you that loaf of bread. 

Should you shop at Carrs or Safeway? You can eliminate the question. You simply cannot go wrong shopping in your home town. 

____

More About This Story...

The Journal asked Ken Roberson, who worked with the Fire Department for years, if he would comment on it. On July 23rd, 2024, Ken wrote back:

Remember the incident well.  I was never the Chief or Assistant Chief.   I was the Board Treasurer for a while and the Board Chairman later in the game.  

Sheldon Sprecker was the Chief at that time (Parks's Incident) and quite a while afterward.   Much, much later, the Copper Center and Glennallen Fire Departments combined and it became the Glenn-Rich Fire Department with Rocky Ansell as Chief.   I was a member of both over the years for 35 years in total.

More than anything, beside Jim's making calls, was the fact that the building was built with "fire stops" every couple of trusses using drywall.   

That kept the fire from running down the entire length of the building in what amounted to its attic.   So, timing of fire report and proper fire-safe construction plus a great Fire Dept. response saved the building.    

Many times Park acknowledged that the combination saved the building and his business.   He did many favors to the Fire Department over the years and when there was volcanic ash over the Copper Basin he had the Fire Department wash his driveway/parking area and made a contribution to the Department.    

It was always a very nice relationship.