After The Fire: Survivors hold sale as they confront being houseless
David John Daniels, 66, has been indicted for Arson in the first Degree in Wasco County Circuit Court in relation to this fire on Jan. 25 at 1004 West Sixth Street in The Dalles. The fire destroyed a fledgling antique business and left three people houseless.
By Tom Peterson
With charred hands, Joli Kirk and Kerry Hyde put out the salvageable merchandise leftover from a shop fire that occurred at 1004 West Sixth Street The Dalles on Jan. 25.
“We’re keeping our chins up,” said Hyde this morning, Feb. 4th. “It’s an ugly thing.”
CCCNews caught up with David John Daniels, 66, a year ago when he was driving this Westcoaster Mailster about town in East The Dalles. He is now charged with first-degree arson.
David John Daniels, 66, is now in NORCOR after being indicted on first-degree arson on Jan. 27th in connection to the fire.
Daniels was also subsequently charged with failure to register as a sex offender, stemming from a 1993 Oregon criminal case where he was found guilty of first-degree sex abuse and first-degree sodomy. He served 18 years in prison on the conviction, according to court records.
Daniels’ former girlfriend, Aubrey Stacy, told CCCNews that she watched as Daniels started the fire with a can of gasoline.
Daniels is scheduled to appear in Wasco County Circuit Court on Feb. 15th.
Customers gathered at the fire sale on Friday, Feb. 4. Kerry Hyde, second in from left, and Joli Kirk, far right, are salvaging what they can after a fire allegedly caused by arson left them and friend Aubrey Stacy houseless.
This week, Kirk and Hyde worked through the ash in an effort to rebuild their lives. The fire rendered them houseless and destroyed the fledgling business of their friend Aubrey Stacy. All four people - Stacy, Kirk, Hyde and Daniels - were living in the shops at 1002 ½ and 1004 and 1006 on Sixth Street until the fire.
Kirk thanked St. Vincent De Paul and the American Red Cross that assisted them with housing and money during the past week. The Red Cross gave them $500 each, Kirk said, noting a volunteer drove from Redmond to help them on the night of the fire.
And the sale hopes to bring additional cash as they try to pick up their lives. Stacy said her portion of the proceeds would be donated to St. Vincent De Paul in The Dalles.
“I don’t know what I am going to do,” said Kirk earlier this week. “A room here is $350 per week.”
She began to cry.
“It’s been so long since I’ve had a home that no one can take away from me because they are not getting what they want, usually sexually. I’m so tired of it.”
Stacy who was in a relationship with Daniels for the past five years has moved to another part of Oregon after the fire last week out of fear of Daniels, she said.
In a phone interview, she told CCCNews that she had started her antique shop ‘Bat Rabbit Flat Ribbon’s Treasures’ on Sixth Street in September, and she is attending college at Colorado Technical University for business administration and management.
She had worked at Fred Meyer for 11 months prior to opening the business.
Both Kirk and Stacy were upfront about past drug addictions and said they had met at a sober house with Bridges to Health in The Dalles. They are working daily to remain sober.
Stacy said she had been on the street for years in Portland with Daniels using drugs, but recently celebrated her second year of sobriety. Kirk said she had drunk alcohol in the last year but was clean from methamphetamine.
Stacy also said she had “pulled Daniels off the streets” of Portland about a year ago and rekindled their relationship here in The Dalles.
At the same time, Stacy said she worked for two years toward opening the antique shop, saving and storing items that she eventually displayed at the store.
Here’s an inside look at the damage caused to the kitchen area at 1004 West Sixth Street.
But that all came to a fiery end last week.
Stacy said Daniels had been drinking whiskey on Jan. 24th in the hours leading up to the fire.
“He had drank three-quarters of half-gallon of whiskey, and he was drunk when he set the place on fire,” she told CCCNews.
She said Daniels had a “violent side when he drank or used drugs” and she steered clear of him the night of the fire.
“I went to get a blanket and pillow, and he got rude and nasty with me,” she said. “I went and stayed out in my car around 6 (p.m.) or 7 (p.m.) I just wanted to get some rest; I was tired. I sure as heck knew not to be next to him - it’s scary.”
The Dalles Police were originally called out to 1004 W. 6th St. at 12:07 a.m.on Jan. 25 on a disturbance/fight call, according to The Dalles Police Department Log. Both Kirk and Hyde called the police after hearing Daniels in the parking lot.
They heard him punching my car and yelling profanities,” Stacy said.
Kirk said the police were told they thought Daniels was a danger to them.
“There were no physical marks on Aubrey, and there was no plausible cause to enter the house where Daniels was. And he would not answer the door,” Kirk added. “We hoped he just finished the whiskey and passed out.”
Police left shortly thereafter.
Just before 3:30 a.m., Stacy said she woke up in her car.
“I woke up just in time to see him pour gas on his own truck and lite it on fire, and I reached for my phone to call 911,” Stacy said. “Then he went inside the building with the gas can, and the next thing I knew within three minutes everything was in flames.”
“He did not come out until the fire department pulled him out of the building,” she said.
Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue crews mop up after being called out to the fire at 1004 West Sixth Street on Jan. 25 at 3:30 a.m.
Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue were called out and were on the fire by about 3:30 a.m., said Division Chief Jay Wood on Jan. 25th.
Firefighters doused the flames while a crew member entered the 1006 W. Sixth St. and recovered a male - Daniels - from the location who appeared to be suffering from smoke inhalation. He, however, recovered and was not taken to the hospital for further treatment, Wood said.
Crews were able to knock the fire down in about 15 minutes, Wood said. “The cause is under investigation due to the nature of the fire,” he said.
The fire destroyed Stacy’s antique business, and she said she carried no insurance on it.
Joli Kirk and her pal Bernard.
The Oregon State Police Arson investigation team as well as the State Fire Marshall have sorted through the building for evidence. Wood said the arson case is under the jurisdiction of The Dalles Police Department.
Daniels was cuffed the night of the fire and taken to NORCOR where he currently remains on $27,500 bail.
Hyde and Kirk said they would be holding the sale through Sunday, Feb. 6, and if people had questions or wanted to make a donation, they can call (541) 340-1100.
“You gotta leave the past in the past and not dwell on it,” said Stacy of losing her business. “I pretty much need to concentrate on getting my daughter graduated from high school and proceed with my degree and not let him take away what I have been working toward. It was just material things. I will use my education to open up another store in the future.”
