Photo: Springfield News-Sun
On April 12, 1892, fire gutted Winter's Art Lithographing Co. in Springfield, Ohio - destroying materials printed for the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, according to the next day's The New York Times.
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."
Photos: Courtesy of family of Harry Huffman
Advertisement featuring Springfield Fire Chief Sam Hunter and Engine 2's crew at old Fire Station No. 2, which was closed during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Harry Huffman was promoted to platoon chief on Jan. 1, 1947. He was appointed to the fire division in 1928 and retired on April 1, 1949.
Photo: Cindy Funk via Flickr
The Springfield Tire Fire always burns in the hometown of "The Simpsons" television series. In 1917, a coal fire smoldered for weeks in Springfield, Ohio. "Springfield firemen resorted to the use of steam shovels to help fight fire in a 100,000 ton coal pile in the Big Four railroad yards, burning since Aug. 1," according to the Mahoning Dispatch of Canfield, Ohio, on Sept. 14, 1917.
Fire Chief — Samuel F. Hunter.
Superintendent of Telegraph — Michael M. Duffy.
Central Steam Fire Company No. 1 — West side of South Fountain Avenue, between Jefferson and Washing ton; H. M. Rankin, captain.
Engine Company No. 2 — East side of North Factory Street, between Columbia and North; C. M. Moffett, captain.
Engine Company No. 4 — Lagonda Avenue, between C, C, C. & St. L. Railroad and Florence; J. Edward Bryant, captain.
Engine Company No. 6 — Southeast corner Mound and Glenn Avenue; E. J. Perkins, captain.
Chemical Engine Company — West side of South Yellow Springs, between Pleasant and Dibert Avenue; William Fanning, captain.
Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 — West side of South Fountain Avenue, between Jefferson and Washington.
Hook and Ladder Company No. 3 — Northwest corner Clifton and Boler; H. T. Evans, captain.
Southern Steam Fire Company No. 3 — Northwest corner Clifton and Boler ; H. T. Evans, captain.
Hose Company No. 4 — East side Lagonda Avenue, between C, C, C. & St. L. Railroad and Florence.
Hose Company No. 5 — South side Main, near Park ; L. L. Metcalf , captain.
Hose Company No. 6 — Southeast corner Mound and Glenn; E. J. Perkins, captain.
Hose Company No. 7 — South side Cecil, between Fountain Avenue and Limestone; Pat H. Lawler, captain.
Hose Company No. 8 — West side South Yellow Springs, between Pleasant and Dibert Avenue; William Fanning, captain.
SOURCE: 20th Century History of Springfield , and Clark County, Ohio and Representative Citizens. Edited and compiled by Hon. William M. Rockel, Springfield, Ohio - 1908.
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.
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.
Photo: Springfield News-Sun
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.
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.
Photo: IAFF Local 333 web site
On May 5, 2005, the Springfield Fire-Rescue Division battled a pair of serious fires.
The first blaze swept an abandoned building on the northern edge of Snyder Park - apparently the former Bullock Garages, according to the Springfield News-Sun.
``It had a pretty good start on us before we got here,” Fire Chief Mike Beers told the newspaper, with firefighters stretching more than 1,000 feet of hose over railroad tracks and through woods to the nearest hydrant.
The second fire gutted a home at 2712 Berger Ave. Amber Griffith and her 4-year-old son escaped - and also saved their cat, according to the News-Sun.
- On Sept. 18, 2007, a flashover ripped through a vacant house as crews advanced hose lines inside the dwelling. Battalion Chief Marc Lloyd said none of the firefighters were injured in the incident in the 100-block of Shaffer Street, according to WHIO-TV.
- On Jan. 30, 2008, high levels of carbon monoxide were detected at a home on South Limestone Street, sending six adults and two children to Springfield Regional Medical Center for testing, the Springfield News-Sun reported. The house tested at 50 ppm of carbon monoxide. "We walked in the building and our monitors went into alarm immediately," Springfield Fire Division Lt. Doug Buffenbarger told the newspaper. "Anything greater than 35 (ppms), we have them evacuate immediately."
- On Jan. 25, 2006, fire swept a house at 623 West North Street, killing Patrick A. Wright, 56, his dog and his three cats. "I looked out and saw the whole front room on fire," neighbor Sandy Gootee told the Springfield News-Sun. "I thought, 'Oh my God,' so I called 911 because all I could think about was him being in there." Assistant Fire Chief Nick Heimlich said some of the doors were bolted shut, according to the newspaper.
- On Nov. 12, 2003, winds damaged the roof of the Dole Fresh Vegetables packaging plant in Springfield, snapping an ammonia line and forcing the evacuation of 150 workers, said Mike Doan, assistant fire chief. Two people were hospitalized, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Photo: Springfield Fire-Rescue Division
Crowell-Collier General Alarm - 1999
Springfield, seat of Clark County, Ohio, is located between Dayton (to the west) and Columbus (to the east).
The Springfield Fire Rescue Division is a career fire department that protects the City of Springfield, Ohio, which is located along Interstate 70 and the old ``National Road'' in West Central Ohio. The city is the seat of Clark County.
The fire and rescue service - responsible for emergency medical care, firefighting, technical rescue and hazardous materials response - fields 10 companies operating from seven stations in three platoons (or shifts).
The shifts (A Unit, B Unit and C Unit) work ``24 hours on, 48 hours off.'' Each platoon is commanded by a battalion chief - a rank previously called "platoon commander" or "platoon chief."
Crews of the city's ``combination companies'' respond with either an engine or medic unit depending on the nature of the call - fire, medical, etc. The city also operates a rescue engine, three aerial ladders, a Hazmat unit and a technical rescue unit. An engine and medic unit are also held in reserve.
Typical on-duty staffing is three firefighters per vehicle - or about 30 firefighters, paramedics and officers - per shift. Combination companies are led by lieutenants. The rescue is also led by a lieutenant. Truck companies (the aerial ladders) are led by captains.
The fire rescue division is commanded by the Fire Chief, who is supported by two assistant chiefs and a headquarters staff of uniformed and civilian personnel.
The volunteers of the Box 27 Associates club assist the fire division at major fires and emergencies. The volunteers operate a light and air wagon and a mobile canteen.
Township fire departments protect the rest of Clark County and provide mutual aid to the city, and the Ohio Air National Guard operates a fire and rescue station at the municipal airport.
Finances
The story of the Springfield Fire Rescue Division is one of dedicated service and innovation against a backdrop of difficult municipal finances and chronic personnel shortages.
Station No. 2 closed during the Great Depression, and Station No. 9 closed in 1974 as the city's manufacturing base started to shrink.
In the early 1990s, three of the city's fire stations had only two firefighters assigned to each shift, and by mid-decade, the engine company at Station No. 1 was disbanded.
On average, the city's fire engines carried larger crews before the Great Depression of the 1930s, though at that time firefighters also worked longer hours.
The situation has since been reversed. A new policy of billing for ambulance services is providing more money for the recruitment of firefighters and paramedics.
Roberds Book
The fire division was the subject of the 1978 book ``From Buckets to Diesels'' by Springfield Fire Captain Calvin Roberds, who began his career as an auxiliary fireman during World War II. He retired in 1985, having attained the rank of platoon commander.
Roberds, who took great pride in his work as a fire service historian, died in 1995 at the age of 72.
The firefighters' union (IAFF Local 333) and Box 27 Associates helped raise funds for the publication of Roberds' book.
The Springfield Fire Journal is intended to serve as a 21st Century extension of Captain Roberds' comprehensive work. Besides adding new features to the Fire Journal, your editor regularly updates existing articles.
Suggestions are welcomed at wb2kqg@arrl.net
City Heritage
Springfield, established in 1799 by James Demint and migrant Kentuckians, evolved into a major industrial center in the 19th and 20th centuries.
In the 1800s, it led the U.S. in production of agricultural equipment. In the early 1900s, the city's factories produced a variety of autos, including the Bramwell, Brenning, Foos, Frayer-Miller, Kelly Steam, Russell-Springfield and Westcott, according to the Ohio Historical Society.
As the community evolved, fire protection evolved too - from bucket brigades, to volunteer companies and minute men, to a paid fire department to today's fire-rescue service.
Prevention vs Suppression
In the fire service, community safety is Priority No .1.
In his book, Roberds observed:
``Considering the primary mission of the fire service - fire prevention - the fire division has done its most effective work when the engines are in the engine houses. Yet the average citizen is apt to feel that engines not in use are not needed. Conversely, when the firefighters and engines are hard at work on a major fire, the first mission of the fire service has already been lost.''
Paramedics
Since the fire division fielded its first "Emergency Squad" in 1949, its role as first responder to medical emergencies has increased, with medical runs accounting for more than 80 percent of ALL the division's annual runs.
The formal name of the agency was changed to the Springfield Fire Rescue Division in the 1990s to reflect its wider role in the community.
In the annual report for 2004, Springfield Fire Chief Mike Beers reported that three decades after the establishment of the paramedic program - during the tenure of Fire Chief Frank Trempe - more than 80 percent of the city's firefighters are certified to provide advanced life support.
``Frank Trempe was my first fire chief, and he is oftentimes credited with having the vision to embrace the paramedic program that has led to our having the ability today to provide emergency medical services second to none,'' Beers wrote.
On Feb. 19, 1894, fire swept the downtown Arcade Hotel.
Flames started in the basement ``Kindling Room,'' where coal and other fuels were stored - and ascended the elevator shaft.
Fire Chief Ed Simpson ordered a general alarm to save the hotel.
``So quickly did the smoke cover the entire building that the women attaches of the hotel and in the dining room were compelled to escape from the windows and over the roof,'' The Springfield Weekly Republic reported Feb. 22.
The flames - discovered at 10:15 a.m. - ``spread from the east side to the west side of the hotel throughout all floors, and began eating their way through the hallways on the west side, where the guest chambers are,'' the Republic said.
``The fight became bitter here to prevent the spread of the flames, for if they could pass this point the entire block to High Street would probably be consumed,'' the newspaper said.
By 2 p.m., though, Simpson said the fire was under control.
Photo: Fire Division web site
On May 7, 2004, J. Mike Beers (right), who served as chief of the Springfield Fire Rescue Division from 2000-2010, received an Ohio Fire Executive diploma from Stan Crosley, president of the Ohio Fire Chiefs' Association at Ohio State University.
James Cushman 1855 (Volunteer)
Abram Ludlow 1856-1857 (Volunteer)
Jeremiah Klinefelter 1857-1859 (Volunteer)
William Blakeny 1859-1865 (Volunteer)
Abram Ludlow 1865-1871
Robert King 1891-1879
J. Christie Holloway 1879-1882
William Moore Jr. 1882-1884
Ed Simpson 1884-1895
George Follrath, 1895-1904
Samuel Hunter, 1904-1928 (Hired from outside fire division)
Louis Locher, 1928-1934
Grover Frock, 1934-1952
Willard Compton, 1952-1963
John Gnau, 1963-1970
Frank Trempe Jr. 1970-1980
William Edgington 1980-1983
William Casey 1984-1989 (Served as acting chief before appointment. Also acted as temporary city manager.)
Donald Lee 1992-1997 (Served as acting chief before appointment )
Frank Montes De Oca Jr. 1997-2000 (Hired from outside fire division)
J. Mike Beers 2000-2010
Nicholas Heimlich 2010-present
Over the years, three of Springfield's fire chiefs served as presidents of the Ohio Fire Chiefs' Association: 1919-21 Chief Samuel F. Hunter, 1937-38 Chief Grover L. Frock, 1958-59
Chief Willard C. Compton.
The chief's association presented its Distinguished Service Award to retired Springfield Fire Chief Frank Trempe in 1983. The members of Box 27 Associates received the Distinguished Service Award a year earlier.
In the 1800s, former Springfield Fire Chief A.R. Ludlow, who also served as the city's Police and Fire Commissioner, ran for Governor of Ohio on the anti-liquor Prohibition ticket.
The Great Depression crippled the economy in the 1930s and Springfield's firefighters banded together to prevent job cuts.
``Revenues were inefficient to meet the payroll,'' according to Calvin Roberds' book ``From Buckets to Diesels.'' ``A severe cutback in manpower was proposed.''
Instead, the firefighters ``proved their strong bonds of brotherhood'' and agreed to give up a day of pay each week, Roberds wrote.
The agreement, signed during November 1930, ``kept on duty - and on the payroll - many men who otherwise would have been laid off from work,'' Roberds wrote.
Across Ohio, the state's unemployment rate reached 37.3 percent by 1932, according to the Ohio Historical Society.
As the depression deepended, the city was forced to close Fire Station No. 2 and Fire Station No. 8 in 1932.
Station No. 8 ``was opened again after a very short time of closure but No. 2 engine house remained closed,'' effective Sept. 7, 1932, according to Roberds' book.
Other municipal services suffered. In March 1936, public schools ``closed for lack of funds,'' according to the Clark County Historical Society.
Businesses declared bankruptcy and banks restricted withdrawals to halt a run on deposits in 1933.
Even as the number of fire alarms increased during the 1930s, the city cut spending on supplies and apparatus, placing a ``severe strain on existing equipment,'' Roberds wrote. ``Bursting hose was a problem encountered at many of the working fires.''
What's more, a pair of 1902 American LaFrance steam fire engines remained on the fire division's apparatus roster as spares during the Great Depression. The steamers were housed at Station No. 6 and Station No. 8, according to the apparatus roster for 1936. They remained in reserve until 1940 or 1941.
Photo: Fire Division web site
Springfield firefighters extricatied the driver of a truck that was struck by a Norfolk Southern locomotive on March 30, 2004. The collision occurred on Zischler Street and the locomotive pushed the truck a half mile east to Isabella Street, according to the Associated Press.
Photo: Fire Division web site
Photo: Fire Division web site
2003 Recruit Class - From left to right, front row: David Johnson, Patrick Hayes, Tristan Walker, Andy Cantrell and John Readler. Back row: Bruce Kelley, Henry Rosasco, Charles Alexander, Wallace Sothard and Sean Pierce.
Photo: Flickr
Steam pumper from Engine Company No. 2 pictured at the ruins of the East Street Shops in 1902. Fire Chief George Follrath is pictured to the left of the steamer, according to the hand-written caption. At the front center of the photograph is a Lowry Hydrant, a portable device that tapped the municipal water system. It was carried on the engine.
