TOWER HALL - 1977

In the early and bitter cold hours of Feb. 1, 1977, a three-alarm blaze trapped students and firefighters inside the 10-story Tower Hall dormitory on the campus of Wittenberg University.

Firefighters raised an 85-foot aerial ladder from Truck 7 to save two students, Ed Wittenberg, 20, and David Clement, 20, from Room 601 on the sixth floor, according to The Springfield Daily News and a Wittenberg University press release.

Firefighters escorted two other students from the 7th floor and removed two firefighters from an elevator as flames leapt from the rear of the co-ed dorm on Woodlawn Avenue.

Medic 1 transported students and firefighters to Mercy Medical Center with smoke inhalation.

The first alarm was struck at 1:40 a.m., with Engine 1 from fire headquarters first due. Engine 7, Truck 7, Chief 3 and Medic 1 were also on the initial assignment. Other units typically "on the running card" for alarms at Wittenberg in that era were Engine 8, Engine 5 and Truck 8. (The nearest street alarm - Box 6124 - was located at the corner of Woodlawn and Cassily.)

 There had been confusion as to the location of the fire when firefighters arrived.

Signs in the stairwell identifying the floor numbers had been moved.

There was also a problem with the standpipe system.

An investigation determined a candle in a student's room - Room 612 - started the blaze, which was fueled by a vinyl record collection.

The sixth floor was rendered inhabitable, with considerable smoke and water damage extending from the fourth to seventh floors.

Evacuees were house in other dormitories, sororities, fraternities and private homes.

Most of the city's fire apparatus responded to the fire as did the volunteers of Box 27 Associates.  (Your editor, a Wittenberg freshman and regular visitor to fire headquarters, was pressed into service to assist Medic 1.)

In total, four firefighters were injured:

William Edgington, 50, platoon commander
Jerry Mansfield, 27
Bill Kemper, 33
Cecil "Pete" Siratt, 49

Later in 1977, one of the deadliest dormitory fires in U.S history killed 10 women at Providence College in Rhode Island on Dec. 23, 1977. That fire started in a closet. Two hair dryers had been left on to dry wet mittens.

The Wittenberg campus was the scene of other fires:

• On May 15, 1928, fire swept the Woodlawn Hall womens' dormitory, killing Hilda Sipes, 20, of Shelby, Ohio, according to a dispatch from the Associated Press.
• On Dec. 28, 1900, fire destroyed Hamma Divinity Hall. Firefighters rescued three students even as their hose lines were hindered by low water pressure.

1920s

Jefferson School - 1928

Springfield , Ohio

• Firefighter Walter Reinheimer died - Jan. 3, 1920. Suffered "stroke of apoplexy" while recovering from injuries sustained at Kresge's five and ten cent store fire on Nov. 7, 1919. [Springfield Daily News]
• Kauffman Store McCoy fire - Jan. 22, 1921. Started @ 11 p.m.
• Riots - March 12, 1921
• Fink and Heiney Building fire - July 8, 1921. Flames spread to ammonia tank, which exploded while firefighters were dousing flames. Firefighters escaped injury. [Fire and Water Engineering, Aug. 21, 1921.] 
• Country Club fire - June 14, 1922
• Fairbanks Piano Plate Co. fire (Kenton St.) - Nov. 13, 1922
• Armstrong Foundry fire (Dibert and R.R.) - 1924. Steamer used.
• Springfield Abattoir Co. fire (Mill Run)  - May 12, 1925. 1st general alarm of day. Started at 3 p.m., $10,000 damage. [Roberds]
• Brain Lumber Co. fire (East St.) $150,000 - May 12, 1925. 2nd general alarm of day. [Roberds]
• Mass Foos Co. fire (Isabell between Main and Columbia) - Dec. 17, 1925. Steamer used.
• Firefighter Charles Deam died - Jan., 14, 1926. Died at City Hospital after commercial truck collided with pumper (Main Street and Belmont Avenue); Firefighter John Miller injured. [Morning Sun]
  Spfld. Malleable Iron fire (Williams  and Main) - April 28, 1926
• Bryant Bldg. Basket Co. Fires (14 W. Columbia) - Jan. 17, 1928. Steamers used.
• Jefferson School fire (McCreight and Garfield) - Feb. 19, 1928
•  Woodlawn Hall dormitory fire, Wittenberg College - May 15, 1928. Fire killed student Hilda Sipes, 20, of Shelby, Ohio. 3 others injured. [Associated Press, Springfield Daily News]
• Central Brass Co. Fire (Jefferson St) - Feb. 13, 1929
• Flood - Feb. 26, 1929

WOODLAWN HALL - 1928

On May 15, 1928, fire swept the Woodlawn Hall womens' dormitory at Wittenberg College, killing Hilda Sipes, 20, of Shelby, Ohio, according to a dispatch from the Associated Press.

Other women were injured jumping from windows early that Tuesday morning, the campus newspaper, The Torch, reported two days later.

Over the years, the tragedy contributed to ghost stories about Woodlawn Hall.

Ms. Sipes died in a lavatory across from her room, No. 11.

Firefighters located her body, clad in a nightgown, in a bathroom "stretched flat on the floor between the bathtub and the wall," said Fire Captain Ed Garrity of the Central Engine House, quoted by the Springfield Daily News.

The fire was discovered by Lilly Myers, house mother for the 20 residents, at about 2 a.m., according to The Torch.

The Associated Press identified three of the injured students as Alice Olde of Detroit, Helen McClain of Troy, Ohio, and Marie Schneider of Indianapolis.

The AP also reported: "More of the girls might have been trapped in bed had not most of them remained awake longer than usual to listen to a midnight serenade of a campus fraternity."

The AP dispatch was published in the May 16, 1928 edition of the Hartford Courant newspaper of Hartford, Connecticut. The headline of the story on page 6 of the newspaper read: "Co-Ed Killed in Dormitory Fire in Ohio."

The AP reporter identified the dormitory as "Woodland Hall."