On Aug. 24, 1974, a crumbling wall killed Durango firefighter Nick Parks III and police corporal Gale Emerson as an arson fire swept a downtown block.
Parks and Emerson men were evacuating a hotel when "the whole thing came down without warning," an official told the Associated Press.
Gilbert Martinez, a waiter, pleaded guilty to one count of arson two years later. Prosecutors agreed to accept pleas of innocent by reason of insanity to three other arson charges and two counts of murder.
The blaze gutted Gardenschwartz Sporting Goods Store, Gamble’s Appliance Shop, Pacesetter's Clothing Store, Thompson’s Saddle Shop, the Taylor-Raymond Jewelers, the Kiva Theater, Chez Louis French Restaurant and Metropole Hotel.
Bulldozers plowed the rubble and the pile stood 20-feet high and 40-feet wide, according to United Press International.
[Photo: Courtesy of private collection]
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