RUNS & WORKERS - PART 3

- On Jan. 8, 1968, a freight train derailed in Snyderville - six miles west of Springfield - and set a family's home ablaze, according to the Associated Press. The accident killed Jason Williams, 47, and injured his wife and three children. Brenda Williams, 17, was credit with saving her younger sister and brother, according to neighbors. A neighbor pulled Jason Williams and wife, Frances, 40, from the flames, according to the AP dispatch. READ MORE

- A search of Google's newspaper archives turned up a brief wire dispatch in The Age, an Australian daily from Nov. 13, 1961. It read:``Three children perished last night when fire swept through their third-floor flat in Springfield, Ohio. Their mother, with her six-month-old son, was visiting friends in a second-floor flat at the time. Firemen found the woman, Mrs. Elisa Duheart, screaming at the door to her blazing flat, attempting in vain to batter it down to rescue her children.''

- On Sept. 7, 1956, an explosion caused the collapse of a new addition to the Donnelsville School, near Springfield, according to the Associated Press. Emma Blackburn, 62, a teacher, suffered rib and wrist fractures. The explosion happened about an hour after school was dismissed for the day, the AP reported. The addition opened four days earlier.

- On Jan. 11, 1976, flames engulfed a house near Springfield, killing an elderly man and his two sisters, according to United Press International. Fire crews located the bodies of John Shaw, 80, Nattie Shaw, 74 and Ruth Shaw, 59 in the debris, according to Hustead fire officials quoted by UPI.

They called it ``America's long hot summer.'' In July 1967, rioting in Detroit led to disturbances in other cities. ``Springfield, Ohio, reported its first racial incidents, with rock throwing and tossing of fire bombs,'' according to the Free-Lance Star of Fredericksburg, Virginia on July 28, 1967. Trouble was also reported in the Ohio cities of Toldeo and Lorain.

- SPRINGFIELD, Ohio (UPI) - Firemen say four children playing with matches behind the Lynn Hockenson Co. here accidentally touched off a three alarm fire that swept through the cardboard box producing plant, causing an estimated $40,000 damage. [The Bryan Times, Bryan, Ohio, April 12, 1971]

CHILD CALLS 911

On May 2, 1990, a three-year-old boy named Tyler Wolf dialed 911 after his mother fell unconscious in their home at 817 East McCreight Avenue in Springfield, Ohio.

"He knows that he helped mommy and he called the squad for mommy," said his mother, Lori Wolf, who was quoted by The Dayton Daily News. "We're very proud of him."

The boy's father - employed by a private ambulance company - was at work. The parents taught Tyler how to dial 911.

Following is a transcript - from Dayton Daily News archives - of Tyler, fire dispatchers Rick Williams and David Storer, and police dispatcher Ann Eubanks:

WILLIAMS: "What's wrong, son?"
TYLER: "Mommy fall."
WILLIAMS: "Did mommy fall down?"
TYLER: "Yeah."
WILLIAMS: "What's your name?"
EUBANKS: "Is it Tyler?"
TYLER: "Yeah."
EUBANKS: "How old are you?"
TYLER: "Three."
EUBANKS: "And your mommy's right there and she fell down?"
TYLER: "Yeah."
WILLIAMS: "Is his daddy there?"
TYLER: "No. At work."
WILLIAMS: "Did his mom ask him to call?"
WILLIAMS: "Tyler, you stay here on the phone, OK?"
(IN THE BACKGROUND: Williams then asks fellow fire dispatcher Storer to pick up the call while he sends an engine and emergency squad to the home.)
STORER: "Hi, Tyler. How are you?
WILLIAMS: "Tyler, go ahead and talk to this man for a minute, OK?"
TYLER: "Hi."
STORER: "Hi. We're going to send the emergency squad and an engine out there, and they'll talk to you and take care of your situation, OK?"
TYLER: "No. My dad not going to be here."
STORER: "Why isn't he?"
TYLER: "Because he's working 24."
STORER: "Just your mother's there?"
TYLER: "Yeah. (Unintelligible)."
STORER: "Tyler, stay here on the phone, OK? We want to keep talking to you. How old are you, Tyler? What are you, about seven?"
TYLER: "Mommy! Mommy!"
STORER: "Is your front door unlocked so that the firemen can come in?"
TYLER: "Yeah. No. It's locked."
STORER: "Do you know how to unlock it so that the firemen can help your mom?"
TYLER: "Yeah."
STORER: "OK, because the firemen are on their way up there, OK?"
TYLER: "Mommy! Mommy! Bye."
STORER: "Don't hang up now."
WILLIAMS comes back on the line and says, "Hey, Tyler. What's your mommy doing now?"
TYLER: "Laying down."
WILLIAMS: "Did she hurt her head or something? Did she bump her head?"
TYLER: "No."
STORER comes back on the line and asks, "Are her eyes closed?"
TYLER: "Yeah."
STORER: "OK. We're going to need you to unlock the front door for the firemen, OK?"
TYLER: "OK."
WILLIAMS: "Don't do it right now. We'll stay on the phone with you until the firemen get there, OK? They'll be there in just a little bit. It doesn't take them very long."
TYLER: "Can I put the phone on the chair?"
WILLIAMS: "No. Don't put the phone on the chair right now. You just stand there and hold it. Are you standing there holding the phone?"
TYLER: "No. I'm sitting down."
WILLIAMS: "You're sitting down. OK. Is your last name Wolf?"
TYLER: "Yeah."
WILLIAMS: "Where's your dad? Is he at work?"
TYLER: "Yeah. He's working 24 today. His name Barry Wolf."
WILLIAMS: "His name is Barry Wolf and he's working 24? Do you know where he works? Do you know what company he works at?"
TYLER: "He don't work at company no more. He work at Med Trans."
WILLIAMS: "He works at Med Trans. Hey, Tyler. Go over and open the front. I want you to go over and open the front door, then come get back on the phone."
TYLER: "OK."
(IN THE BACKGROUND: There are three knocks on the door. Tyler asks, "Yeah. Who is it?" He unlocks the door after the firefighters identify themselves and ask him to show them where his mother is. One firefighter then picks up the phone.)
FIREFIGHTER: "Hey Rick. You there?"
WILLIAMS: "Yeah."
FIREFIGHTER: "OK, we're here, bud."
WILLIAMS: "Is it real?"
FIREFIGHTER: "Yeah. Bye."

WESTERN SCHOOL - 1954

On Jan. 4, 1954, a general alarm fire swept the 99-year-old Western Grade School at West Main and Yellow Spring streets.

Eight teachers and 275 pupils were safely evacuated by the time firefighters arrived, demonstrating the value of regular fire drills.

The Springfield Daily News reported that when the alarm sounded teachers ``did not know it was a real fire'' and ``headed their charges out of the building before they realized the building was aflame.''

Coincidentally, an earlier school by the same name was destroyed by fire in February 1858.

Four years later, a fire at the Our Lady of Angels School in Chicago claimed about 100 lives, leading to sweeping changes in school fire safety across the nation.

TREMONT CITYLODD - 1963

Willard Dale Ritenour, a member of the Tremont City Fire Department in Clark County, died in the line of duty on Nov. 4, 1963, according to the Ohio Fire Service Honor Roll. Information regarding the incident is scarce as the Tremont City department disbanded. Ritenour was apparently electrocuted while fighting a grass fire. His name is also listed on an honor roll for Miami Valley firefighters who died in the line of duty.