MR. ASHBURNER'S AXE

On the night of Saturday, Jan. 31, 1914, Charles Ashburner, newly installed as Springfield's first city manager, swung his budgetary axe, hacking away at the fire and police departments.

The city dismissed 12 firemen and eight police officers, effective Feb. 1.

Ashburner  announced plans to shutter engine houses No. 2 on Wittenberg Avenue and No. 8 on Yellow Springs Street as well, according to the Feb. 1 edition of the Springfield Daily News, though those closures were later reversed.

(No. 2 was permanently closed in 1932 during the Great Depression; No. 8 remained open until a new station was opened in 1973, though it was briefly closed during the Depression.)

The new city manager, hired to root out political excess, cut debt and modernize municipal finances, justified his decision by saying motorization of the fire department allowed firemen to reach "any part of the city in five minutes or less," the Daily News said.

Ashburner also ordered Fire Chief Samuel Hunter to take up residence and sleep at the Central Engine House.

In all, the fire department's budget was cut by about $12,000 or about $283,000 in 2014 dollars.

Of the men struck from the rolls of the fire department, M.J. Dunn, the longest serving member (appointed 1886), qualified for retirement and pension.

The others didn't.

They were:

Frank Bancroft (appointed 1888)

John Oettlin (appointed 1901)

Daniel O'Neil  (appointed 1903)

Dominick Tracey (appointed 1903)

Daniel Fitzpatrick (appointed 1903)

Frank Moore (appointed 1903)

Joseph Garrett (appointed 1904)

James Dunn (appointed 1905)

Pierce Humphreys (appointed 1908)

Clyde Koontz (appointed 1908)

James Sullivan (appointed 1909)

The cuts weren't by seniority, as others with less time on the job remained, though the men received letters saying they would be recommended for reinstatement should there be any vacancy.

None of them returned.

Bancroft, however, was recommended for pension because of  his health.

The cuts left the fire department with Chief Hunter, seven marshals, a superintendent of fire alarm, four engineers and 29 firemen. (Marshals served as station commanders.)

H.T. Evans, of No.4 engine house on Lagonda Avenue, was reduced in rank. Appointed in 1903, Evans retired in 1923.

No new firemen were hired until l916.

In his first year on the job,  Ashburner reduced Springfield's debt to $40,000 from $120,000, according to the May 24, 1919, edition of A Journal of Democracy.

CLEVELAND CLINIC - 1929

Sudden death visited Ohio's Cleveland Clinic on Oct. 15, 1929 in the form of noxious fumes from a fire. The disaster claimed 123 lives - doctors, nurses and patients.

The blaze started in the basement where an exposed light bulb ignited nitrocellulose x-ray film, releasing poison gas and triggering a pair of explosions.

"Rescuers found evidences of the suddenness with which disaster came to those inside the building on every hand," the Associated Press reported.

Battalion Fire Chief James P. Flynn and his driver, Louis Hillenbrand, dropped a ladder to a fourth-floor landing from the roof and discovered 16 bodies in a stairwell.

"One woman smashed a third floor window and was preparing to leap as firemen spread a life net," AP said. "She stood poised, the amber gas swirled about her shoulders, and she collapsed, falling inside the building."

Ernest Staab, a Cleveland police officer assigned to No. 1 Emergency Wagon, sacrificed his life to make 21 rescues.

Staab "collapsed after carrying out his twenty-first burden" and "followed those he rescued to an emergency cot and died a few hours later," AP said.

 Dr. John Phillips, a founder of the clinic, was another of the dead.

TREMONT CITY - 2014

On Nov. 5, 2014, fire destroyed a historic building housing the Tremont City post office on West Main Street. The mail was spared. “Everything was wet, but I was able to salvage all the mail and all the stamp stock,” Postmaster Brenda Body said.

KAR GARD - 1972

Photo: Roberds Collection

It was a difficult job on Oct. 21, 1972 when a 3-alarm fire destroyed the Kar Gard muffler shop at 2100 South Limestone St., Springfield, Ohio.

Firefighters advanced a 2-1/2 inch line onto the roof by ground ladder (photo) but were forced back.

Flames scorched the tip of their ladder before it could be removed.

The roof collapsed and sent parts of the second floor crashing down, according to Capt. Calvin E. Roberds in the book "From Buckets to Diesels."

MOOSE LODGE - 1953

Photo: Roberds collection

On Nov. 8, 1953, fire struck the Moose Lodge at 32 W. Washington St., Springfield, Ohio. Engine 8 and Box 27 emergency unit - a former city bus - are pictured.

CHIEF LEE

Retired Springfield Fire Chief Donald Lee, who introduced major innovations to overcome personnel shortages, died on Oct. 20, 2014, according to the Springfield News-Sun. He was 84.

Lee joined the fire division on Aug. 16, 1956, and served for 41 years. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1970, captain in 1972, assistant fire chief in 1985 and fire chief in 1989.

During Lee's tenure as chief, the fire division underwent a major re-alignment of personnel and apparatus on Jan. 1, 1995, and acquired its first quint, a combination pumper and ladder truck.

The re-alignment addressed "safety concerns about staffing levels" raised during contract negotiations with the firefighters' union, Lee wrote in the fire division's 1995 annual report.

The plan increased staffing on engine companies and truck companies to a minimum of three per engine and four per truck, without the hiring of additional firefighters.

The quint allowed for the combination of an engine company and truck company, while Engine Co. 1 was placed in reserve and its firefighters were re-assigned to other stations.

In the fire division's 1994 annual report, Lee had requested the hiring of 18 additional firefighters to increase the fire division to "our 1980 manning levels."

Illustrating the severe staffing situation, the 1994 annual report showed just two firefighters assigned to each shift at stations No.3, No. 4 and No. 5.

The quint allowed for the combination of an engine company and truck company, while Engine Co. 1 was placed in reserve and its firefighters were re-assigned to other stations.

In the fire division's 1994 annual report, Lee had requested the hiring of 18 additional firefighters to increase the fire division to "our 1980 manning levels."

Illustrating the severe staffing situation, the 1994 annual report showed just two firefighters assigned to each shift at stations No.3, No. 4 and No. 5.

AVALON PARK - 1930

On Dec. 9, 1930, flames raced through the wooden Avalon Park Dance Pavilion on Auburn Avenue and the roof collapsed by the time the first engines arrived.

Fire crews were hindered by a lack of water and "laid 4,000 feet of hose," according to the Springfield Daily News.

The nearest hydrant was at the corner of Leffel Lane and Clifton Avenue, two blocks away from the pavilion.

"Five fire companies under the command of Assistant Chief Frock did their best to save part of the structure, but without success," the Daily News reported.

The caretaker, S.L. Jones, was heating water and coal oil on the stove and the mixture - used for cleaning the building - exploded, the newspaper said.

The loss was estimated at $27,000. (Adjusted for inflation, that would be $385,000 in 2014 dollars.)

There were no injuries.

NURSING HOMES - 1963 & 1970

Firefighter searches Fitchville ruins

Ruins of Fitchville patient ward

FITCHVILLE - 1963

Flames ripped through the Golden Age Nursing Home near Fitchvillle, Ohio, before dawn on Nov. 23, 1963. Sixty-three people perished. 

The fire, caused by an electrical fault, received little notice at the time because President John F. Kennedy was assassinated a day earlier in Dallas.

Fire Engineering magazine described the catastrophe was "a series of fires, blending into one big blaze."

There were no sprinklers and no manual fire alarms at the nursing home. Many patients were restrained and died in their beds. Others were trapped behind in wheelchairs too wide for the exits. Even so, 21 patients survived along with three staff members.

Trucker Henry Dahman, of Sarber, Pennsylvania, reported the fire at 5 a.m. as he drove north along Route 250, according to the Mansfield News-Journal. Flames were shooting from the roof and walls, he told firemen. Dahman went back after sounding the alarm and tried to douse flames with a fire extinguisher. 

The New London Fire Department, the closest to Fitchville, was first to reach the scene at 5:10 a.m., and by that time "the place was on fire from one end to the other," the New London fire chief, Al Walters, said.

"All records and files were destroyed in roaring flames and smoke that burst open cabinets, wrecked all medical and surgical equipment, melted bedsteads and left little but smouldering ruins of the one-story brick and concrete-block structure," the Mansfield News Journal reported. "Their loss complicated attempts of police and funeral directors to name and number the dead."

Recalling the fire, Fitchville Township trustee Robert White, who was in eighth grade at the time, told the Sandusky Register: “First JFK was killed, then the fire. It was horrible.”

Some of the victims were buried in a common grave.


MARIETTA - 1970

Photo: Marietta Firefighters Local 442
Ohio Governor James Rhodes (left) tours scene of Marietta fire 

On Jan. 9, 1970, fire destroyed a modern, ranch-style Harmar House nursing home in Marietta, Ohio, killing 21 patients and injuring 23 others.

Most of the dead were women between 85 and 94 years old,  some confined to beds with raised iron side railings along the sides, some strapped in their beds or in wheelchairs, United Press International reported.

Marietta Fire Chief Beman Biehl, quoted by UPI,  said there was no sprinkler system because it wasn't called for by state code in a one-floor facility.

When Marietta Police Captain James Barr arrived at the blaze, he said "smoke was rolling and they were removing people from the building .. firemen, police and neighbors ... anyone there that could help."

...

FITCHVILLE HISTORICAL MARKER

Located one mile north of Fitchville, the Golden Age Nursing Home caught fire and burned to the ground at 4:45 a.m., November 23, 1963, killing 63 of 84 patients.

Fire departments from New London, Greenwich, North Fairfield, and Plymouth responded.

Ignited by the arcing of overloaded wiring, the incident called for action to require sprinklers, automatic fire detection systems, and electrical wiring compliance to building codes in all nursing homes.

The worst tragedy of its kind in the nation, the incident was overshadowed by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and was not widely reported.

Twenty-one unclaimed bodies were interred in a 60-foot grave in Woodlawn Cemetery in Norwalk.

RUNS & WORKERS - PART 7

Photo: WDTN
Duplex fire on Orth Drive, New Carlisle, Clark County, Nov. 9, 2013.

Photo: Bethel Township Fire Department
On May 27, 2013, firefighters attempted to rescue farmer from grain bin along Lower Valley Pike, west of Springfield. The farmer succumbed to his injuries. 

Photo: ABC22

Four people died in house fire on Craig Drive, Kettering, Dec. 11, 2013.