On July 12, 1948 at 1:35 p.m. Chambersburg firemen were dispatched to an explosion and building fire at Pryor Tire Service, 230 North Second Street. The explosion was caused by gasoline fumes in the basement of the Prior Tire and was followed by two smaller explosions. Buried under the basement of the business were three or four 1000-gallon gasoline tanks that were discovered to be leaking within recent weeks.
When firemen arrived thick black smoke was billowing into the sky and the intense heat kept them from getting close. In the early part of the fire they were hampered by a large crowd of spectators and mechanical troubles causing a shortage in water. The C.V. (Chambersburg) pumper suffered an air lock and the nearest fire hydrant broke. Flames quickly spread eastward igniting the Chambersburg Implement building. Feeding on the paints and varnish in the building the two story structure was soon ablaze and spreading into other parts of the business.
Firemen worked vigorously to control the blaze, additional lines were laid to other hydrants and four engines began drafting from a nearby stream. Apparatus and manpower was soon requested from other communities. At one point while Letterkenny firemen were soaking roofs to stop the fire the stream came into contact with electrical lines causing some of the men to receive a shock.
Firemen from eight companies worked for an hour and a half before bring the fire under control. In all five civilians were injured, one critically and two firemen were injured one being William Jones from Shippensburg. That night flames broke out six more times requiring firemen to return to the scene.
Pryor Tire Service was a complete loss suffering $100,000 in damage and Chambersburg Implement was heavily damaged suffering $200,000 in losses.
All five Chambersburg Fire companies answered the alarm along with three pieces and 26 men from Letterkenny, two engines from Greencastle and Shippensburg (the Chambersburg paper did not state which company from town responded and 1948 is the only year I have not finished researching from Shippensburg).
3 comments:
Hey,
Iremember this fire. I was only 8years old but I remember the damamge and destruction at that location on N. Second Street. Dad took me up there shortly after the fire.
C.W.
C.W. I spent a good part of the day with your buddy Steve A. today. We didn't tell any lies but we did have lots of stories, it was a good time.
That was a very large fire for then or today, four engines drafting at the same time, today's firefighters couldn't handle that.
I was just researching information on this fire and saw this article written back in 2008. My father, Robert Samuel, Walter, (born in 2018) was 30 years old at that time and was one of the people injured in that fire. He was paying the cashier when the explosion took place.
The explosion was in the basement and the floor heaved up, causing trauma to his knee. A couple of heroes saved him from falling down into the burning basement, and they took him out and laid him next to the gas pumps, which he was concerned about initially, but he was taken to the Chambersburg hospital from there. He subsequently developed gangrene in his knee and had to have his leg amputated above the knee. Shockingly, in those days, they gave the family the limb that was amputated. So my dad’s leg was buried in an orchard at the family’s farmhouse.
That was the first big fire that the brand new “Blue Goose” firetruck went to and unfortunately, they were having technical problems with the water pump and it didn’t work that day. You can go see that firetruck in the Firehouse Museum in Chambersburg. They also have a board of large photos of the fire.
My dad had three young daughters at that time. I wasn’t born until dad was 49 years of age so I’m very thankful to the men who saved him! I wish I knew who they were!
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