Post 12. Second Fire, July 2, 1858

Here, you are at the bottom of the village that was formerly made of wood and was destroyed in the second fire..

Here is the story of this second disaster: “The fire broke out at two in the morning in a barn near the village centre and destroyed it in the space of six hours. Sixty-eight residential buildings, sixty barn-stables and two barns raccards were destroyed and eighty-four persons were injured with a total cost incurred of CHF 123’000.-. At that time, very few people were in the village; some of the men were in the pastures, others in the vineyards, and finally the rest were cutting hay, in Sierre or in the mayens. The damage, while serious, was not as catastrophic as thirteen years earlier. This second fire was different from that of 1845, because it essentially destroyed homes; not one barn was engulfed in flames and only two raccards were destroyed. So food stocks remained available. The recommendation of the Council of State to separate farm buildings from residential areas had been respected after the first fire. While the new building of the Bourgeoisie of Saint-Luc remained standing, the wind had changed direction and the flames licked its south eastern façade. The rebuilt church and rectory once again suffered. Many stones were charred and sometimes turned to dust shortly thereafter.”
August 9, 1858, 38 days after the fire, the State Council issued a decree that established the conditions that had to be met to rebuild the destroyed town centre : expropriation and new allocation of plots; creation of four longitudinal streets and four cross streets; construction of residential houses in masonry, with multiple owners where possible; removal of buildings for rural service still standing; reconstruction of those burned on the outside line of the two longitudinal streets, numbered 1 and 4, and on the far sides of the village.

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Retrace the path of Fond-Villa and continue approximately 50 meters up to three barns on the left side of the road.