Barn Burns For The Third Time

November 30, 1909 at 3:00 p.m. firemen responded to a barn fire at Route 11 and the Walnut Bottom Road. A fire possibly caused by spontaneous combustion destroyed a barn, wagon shed, hog pen and their contents along with some livestock. Damages were estimated in excess of $3,300. Firemen concentrated their efforts on saving the surrounding buildings. This is the third time a barn was burnt down at this location, the others occurred in 1878 and 1900. The Vigilant Hose and Cumberland Valley Hose companies answered the alarm.

This post along with one on December 5 will be made every year I have the blog going. November 30, 2004, Jackson Gerhart a retired fireman from the Washington D.C. Fire Department and an active volunteer in Shippensburg was severely injured when he apparently fell from the rear of an engine and struck his head while attempting to lay a supply line at the scene of a house fire. Jack was flown to York hospital in serious condition. The alarm was turned in at 10:06 a.m. for 541 East Washington Street, Chambersburg and gutted a second floor bedroom causing $10,000 in damages.