A lesson about the Kerrville community from 1995

KFD fighting a fire at 615 Water Street, Kerrville, April 11, 1995.
Click on any image to enlarge.

Please allow me a story of personal history this week.

30 years ago, on Friday, on April 11, 1995, our print shop was heavily damaged by a fire.

A print shop employee who had a second job – delivering pizzas for Mr. Gatti’s – noticed the building had smoke pouring out of it and called 911. Had he not passed by that evening, things could have been much, much worse.

The Kerrville Fire Department arrived very quickly, and worked into the night to put out the fire and save as much of our printing equipment as possible.

Our family was so thankful no one was hurt by the fire: no employees, none of the firemen, and no passersby.

I received a phone call that night around 9 pm from our pizza-delivering employee, and raced from home to town. As I turned the curves connecting Jackson Road and Water Street, I could see the valley below, holding the center of town, was filling with smoke. The smoke was from our building, fueled by the tools of our trade: paper, ink, and equipment. 

I had hoped the fire was not going to be too bad, too damaging. When I saw that smoke, I knew it was going to be bad. Very bad.

It was later determined the fire started when a pair of wires – in a conduit – shorted. It was in a bend of conduit, above our old darkroom. A silent spark, it came from a wire which no one had seen since the building was built in the 1940s. The fire spread through the building via our air-conditioning ducts. The only room spared was our press room, which had a separate air-conditioning system.

Gone were our offices, all of our computers, our reception area, our typesetting, paste-up and platemaking areas, plus our bindery, stockroom, and customer files.

Here’s what I learned that week:

Kerrville is a great community.

Our neighbors offered help to us in a hundred different ways. The firefighters were heroes. Our employee who called in the alarm was a hero.

Our customers were heroes, too. The next morning, customers showed up in our parking lot and placed orders with us, telling us they were in no hurry for delivery. We lacked any ability to produce printing that first morning, but customers came and placed orders with us.

And our employees were heroes. Working together, we were printing again in only 7 days.

Since we lacked critical equipment, another group of heroes came to help: our competitors. Wally Stanton and his crew at So Fast Printing let us borrow his cutting machine; if I remember correctly, he also folded several projects for us. Other competitors, who are no longer in business, also helped.

Since our building was mostly destroyed, we needed a place to put what was left of our equipment; we needed a building in which to operate a business. Tim Crenwelge, of Crenwelge Motors, let us borrow a little building facing Rodriguez Street, which had been the home of the Kerrville Mountain Sun several years before. We were in that building for over a year – and Tim let us be there rent-free the entire time.

Two long-time friends, Susan Sander and Marcie Dorman, painted a little mural on our boarded-up windows. That mural still hangs in our bindery, and it makes me smile every time I see it.

The fire itself was a real “character-builder.” But the lessons I learned that year were about our community; generosity and kindness, concern and support. These are Kerrville traits. I am so thankful we live here.

There is one other thing to note about April 11, 1995. That day was my sister’s 30th birthday – meaning, of course that this Friday, also April 11th, is also her birthday. If you happen to see Judy, I hope you’ll wish her a very happy birthday.

Until next week, all the best.

Joe Herring Jr. is a Kerrville native who is thankful for this community. This column originally appeared in the Kerr County Lead April 10, 2025.

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