ELKS CLUB - 1939

Early on Aug. 14, 1939, several firefighters were overcome by smoke at a fire at the Elks Club at 126 West High Street as they searched for the building caretaker. Fire Chief Grover Frock was told the caretaker, Ernest Munz, slept in a storeroom, which The Springfield Daily News described as ``a veritable inferno.'' However, Munz was found in another part of the building sound asleep and ``unaware of the fire,'' according to the News.

BORDEN DAIRY - 1958

On Feb. 20, 1958, a general alarm fire started by a welder's torch gutted the old Borden Dairy at 125 North Fountain Avenue.

``Two minutes after the blaze was reported, thick clouds of brownish yellow smoke poured from the building,'' The Springfield Daily News reported.

Fire Chief Willard Compton credited a dairy employee with preventing the flames from spreading.

Carl Newberry closed a door between the storage department and the cheese department and contained the flames.

Milk cartons coated with paraffin fueled the flames, making for a smokey, slippery mess.

After the fire, the pile of debris outside the dairy rose to the second floor.

Engine Co. 1 had just returned to the Central Engine House from a run to the Hume Hotel when the alarm was transmitted for the dairy, according to a 1978 history of the fire division, ``From Buckets to Diesels'' by Captain Calvin Roberds.

ZIMMERMAN FIRE - 1953

On March 10, 1953, a general alarm fire gutted the five-story Zimmerman Building at Limestone and Main streets in downtown Springfield - but a lone lightbulb inside the structure refused to go out.

The blaze burned for more than five hours. It started in the basement and traveled up a dumb waiter shaft to the top floor.

``Although the Ohio Edison Company cut all electric service to the building one light bulb continued to remain lit all through the fire and stayed lit until the upper three stories were removed,'' Fire Captain Calvin Roberds wrote in his 1978 history book From Buckets to Diesels. ``The source of the power was never found.''

Rex Miller, who worked at Pat Finnigan's tavern, pulled the alarm box at the interestion at 2:52 a.m., The Springfield Daily News reported. The second alarm followed at 2:58 a.m. and the general alarm at 3:17 a.m.

``I heard something like a shot being fired or an explosion in the basement,'' Miller told the newspaper. ``The next thing I knew was flames flaring from the basement.''

Hazel Patton, the lone occupant of the office building, fled on a fire escape. Springfield Fire Chief Willard Compton directed the fire fighting and ``practically all men and apparatus from the city department were pressed into service,'' the Daily News said.

B-29 ACCIDENT - 1946

On June 3, 1946, firefighters scrambled when a propeller broke loose from an Army Air Force B-29 bomber 30,000 feet over Springfield and showered debris on the city.

According to newspaper accounts, the B-29 - which had just set a speed record - was on approach to Wright Field near Dayton when the right outboard propeller broke loose.

After striking the aircraft, the propeller plunged into a field on Leffel Lane. Another part buried itself in a yard at 335 West Euclid Avenue. A piece of aluminum casing struck the porch of a house at 315 Highview Avenue. Part of cylinder landed in a yard on Magnolia Boulevard.

No one was injured on the ground and the aircraft landed safely.

LUMBER YARD FIRE - 1939

Early on May 20, 1939, a general alarm fire swept the yard and buildings at the Clark County Lumber Co. and illuminated the night sky.

``All available equipment of the Springfield fire department was enlisted in the fruitless battle against the scorching flames,'' the Springfield Daily News reported. Train traffic on the New York Central Lines was halted.

Fire Captain Earl Hickman was treated at the yard - located at 1620-1734 West Main Street - for a hand injury and returned to his duties, Fire Chief Grover Frock said.

At the height of the catastrophe, flames leaped more than 100 feet into the sky and threatened adjacent homes and buildings.

Brands fell on a number of properties on the north side of the city and set a fire that destroyed a grain elevator at 1800-24 Main Street. Sparks also ignited a small fire at the Wilson Furniture Service at 1719 West Main Street as well as grass fires.

Utility poles and wires also burned.

According to news accounts, the lumber yard blaze started in Building B, which contained linoleum, insulating material, composition shingles and kitchen cabinets and spread to Building A, which contained the paint department. In all, five buildings were lost.