I may change the name of this column to 'Don's Psychic Predictions.' You may recall that last Tuesday I wrote about the history of three of Lansingburgh's oldest historic buildings located adjacent to the Old Daley Inn. They were ravaged by fire in October and I heard they might be torn down.

The day after the column appeared demolition actually began on one of them and it made the evening news as several preservationists protested in front of the buildings. I even found myself being interviewed by NewsChannel 13 asking my opinion on whether the buildings should be saved. You may recall that the Daley Inn is featured in my Lansingburgh history book.

Apparently the debate did not settle down.

I enjoy watching the 'talking head' news shows on Sunday morning television. You probably do too. The format for these shows is pretty simple. Get a few people that have an ounce of intelligence and let them try to stretch it into a pound of knowledge. Sometimes they simply make an ash of themselves.

Our little Lansingburgh story became the focus of one of the locally produced newstalk shows.

Most of the discussion centered on justifying tearing the buildings down because they were 'old' and, after all, they burned (though structurally sound)! Which of course made me fume. They missed the point of the controversy completely.

Let me pose this to you.

Lightning starts a forest fire every 3 seconds somewhere in the world. Most natural habitats are shaped by fire, and even some, like pine barrens, require fire to maintain the species diversity that has evolved there.

It just so happens that fire has been an integral part of our city's evolution as well.

On June 20, 1820, a fire began in the stable of Colonel Thomas Davis on First Street in Troy. Before it was over, some 90 buildings in the business section of Troy stretching from First to River and State Streets right down to the River, were gone. Were those homes and businesses in that section of Troy rebuilt? Of course.

About 9:30 in the morning on May 1, 1848, another stable in the rear of the Halsted's Merchant Hall in downtown caught on fire and swept to all the buildings on the east and west sides of River Street between Ferry and Congress. Did they rebuild the homes and businesses in that section of Troy? Of course.

On Friday afternoon, August 25, 1854, a steam planing mill on the southwest corner of Front and Division streets caught on fire. More than 17 blocks of buildings burned, mostly on First, River and Front streets between Jefferson and Division. Two hundred buildings were lost leaving 300 families homeless. Did Troy rebuild those homes and businesses? Of course

On the afternoon of May 10, 1862, sparks from a locomotive sitting on the wooden bridge of the Rensselaer & Saratoga Railroad (now the site of the Green Island Bridge) ignited the wooden structure. Before it was over more than 500 buildings covering 75 acres of downtown Troy were gone - the center of the city was a pile of ash. Did Troy rebuild those homes and businesses? By July, two months after the fire, 181 new buildings were erected or restored. By November, six months after the fire that burned down most of downtown Troy, all building lots except for two were occupied by new or rebuilt ones.

Even downtown Lansingburgh didn't escape the ravages of fire. On Sunday July 9, 1843, around 40 buildings between Second and Third Avenue, and 116th to 118th Streets burned to the ground. Two weeks later, more buildings burned on Second Avenue between 116th and 117th streets. Did they rebuild those homes and businesses? Of course they did.

Folks, in a 42 year period, more than 1000 homes and businesses burned to the ground covering most of the area we call Troy.

Trojans of the 19th century had no fear of rebuilding from the ashes and perhaps that is why Troy became a leading industrial giant during that century. The citizens of this city had courage and guts, not the mentality being exhibited today?

Finally, at the end of the Sunday news show, the moderator asked, rhetorically, where were all the preservationists thirty years when they tore down the beautiful brownstones on Fifth Avenue.

I mustered outloud, though to myself, why didn't you cover it thirty years ago. We tried to get their attention then, but the media didn't consider tearing down history news. They called it 'progress.' We had to wait 30 more years (watching even more historic resources be destroyed in the meantime) before anyone in the media noticed.

I hate it when people don't have the facts. It really burns me up!