Fire in Downtown Hood River; Multiple Businesses Evacuated
“This all happened in seconds.” —Richard Dant.
Richard Dant, owner of Inside Out Fitness, 15 Third Street, Hood River stands in the doorway of his burned out business, still shoeless. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
By Cole Goodwin
Hood River, OR, August 29, 2023– A fire was reported at Inside Out Fitness located at 15 3rd St. in downtown Hood River, this morning at 7:51 a.m. Hood River Fire and Rescue, Mid Columbia Fire and Rescue Wy’East Fire, Mosier Fire, and Cascade Locks Fire responded to the scene.
“It was a great response,” said Dave Smith, Fire Captain at Hood River Fire. Smith extended thanks to the crews who came from out of town to support the fire suppression efforts. The fire was under control by the time CCCNews arrived on scene. The cause is unknown at this time but a State Fire Marshal is headed to the scene to help investigate the cause of the fire.
Dave Smith pictured left. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
The owner of Inside Out Fitness, Richard Dant A.K.A. Rick, A.K.A “The Trainer” A.K.A “D Trainer” was the one to report the fire. He first noticed something was wrong when the lights in the bathroom began flickering. At first, he thought it was just an old bulb but then as he left the bathroom.
It soon became apparent that wasn’t the case.
“Then I smelled something and then I heard *POP POP POP POP POP* like that,” he said, imitating the sound.
He opened the bathroom door and smoke came rolling in.
“I walk out the bathroom door, the same door I’d just walked in and there’s smoke–everything. I couldn’t breathe, the whole thing.”
“This all happened in seconds,” he said, “It’s just like on TV. I’ve never been in a situation like that. The lack of being able to breathe is something you really notice. It hit so darn fast.”
Photo from the Underwood live cam which was posted by Columbia Gorge Fires Facebook Page.
Thinking fast he closed the door to the back room where the smoke was coming from and yelled down the hall to another business to call 911. The Trainer then left the building so fast, he didn’t even have time to put on shoes.
Rick Dante. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
“Somebody did try to give me their shoes. I do need to get some shoes. But they were tyring to give me the shoes they had on!” he said with a laugh. “So I said, look I’m from Kentucky and in Kentucky in the summer time where I grew up, I lived on a farm, and unless you were going to Church or a store you wore no shoes so it’s no big deal about the shoes!”
Dant’s losses included some pretty expensive functional training equipment in addition to damages to the structure of the interior and exterior building. Functional training focuses on strengthening the body in functional, purposeful ways that incorporate motion.
“The thing I always said is that in my place, you didn’t train there just to come back and get better there. You trained so that you could go out and live life,” said Dant.
Dant said he was especially sad about the impact that the fire will have on his clients.
“It really isn’t about me,” he said.
Dant said he was considering offering training in the park for his clients in the meantime.
“This is my whole life. It’s either training somebody else or training myself. If this information can do anything, I hope it can remind people to take care of themselves because you never know what’s going to happen. And I feel for my clients,” said Dant who plans to run 6,000 miles in 2024 in celebration of his 60th birthday.
He also expressed concern about the impact to other businesses in the building.
Several other businesses share are housed in the building at 216 Cascade Ave, in which the fire occurred. Several owners and staff were seen standing in the street next to the documents and furniture they evacuated from the building.
Individuals from Allen’s Fine Woodworking Inc., which is one of said they had been told they would not be able to return to the building for several days or even months due to structural damages.
Allen’s Fine Woodworking Inc on the phone with their insurance company. Photo Credit: Cole Goodwin
Unfortunately, Dant didn’t have fire insurance.
“Here’s the reason. It probably goes back to when I was raised. My mom had paid 20-30 years something like that for Cancer insurance, right? Now I was a younger person so I might not remember all the specifics here but I do remember this. She got cancer. They didn’t pay and they canceled her. So, when people ask why I didn’t have insurance, well probably in the back of my mind I’m thinking: something happens they gonna drop me and cancel me and I’ll pay, said Dant. “If I had figured insurance would work like I think it should then I probably would of.”
To donate to Dant’s GoFundMe campaign please visit: https://gofund.me/4c5ebabd.
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