Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Former POSA Hall In Leesburg Gutted
On January 13, 1952 at 3:00 a.m. firemen were alerted to a fire at the former P. O. S. A. Hall, Leesburg. A fire of undetermined origin that started in a garage destroyed the garage and gutted the rear of a 2-½ story occupied multi family frame building. An exposure building had the shingles burnt and the windows cracked from radiant heat. Firemen utilized water from three nearby cistern to control the blaze; once the flames were knocked down they were able to use the cistern under the front porch of the fire building. Firemen from four companies battled the blaze for hours. A damage estimate was not available. The Vigilant Hose Company answered the alarm along with units from Newville, Letterkenny and the Unions of Carlisle. Vigilant rural fire chief praised the efforts of volunteers but pointed out he had not called for assistance from the other three companies and that towns’ people called them directly.
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4 comments:
Brad,
Haven't posted in a while, so just once again saying keep up the good work. I guess the questions I would have would be: 1. What does P.O.S.A. stand for? 2. Do you know where it was in Leesburg? and finally 3. Hadn't the do-gooders ever heard of chain-of-command!
tj
P = Patriotic
S = Sons
O = Of
A = America
Greg S.
Thanks Greg that is correct, TJ,I do not know its location, my guess is just past Kline road on either side of the street. This area was quite different then with stores and taverns. I am sure I could find it on an old map in the historical society. The article in the paper referred to the building as a 2-1/2 story, it even looked that way on the photo (remember it was 50+ yearls old and microfilm, but a book I have that shows the building well circa 1910 makes it a larger 3-story building. To give you an idea of size it is five windows wide and four windows deep before going down to a 1 story frame addition. It is possible that the buildings are not the same.
I know you were kidding about the chain of command but this was still before the Civil Defense room in the Municipal Building, a fire call was reported by calling the fire company itself. Newville was called along with the Vigilant's because at that time they helped cover that area.. Letterkenny was called directly because some of the occupants of the building worked there, as for Carlisle, maybe just an excited calling party. A few years later this would start to change with the addition of KGD-556.
Hey it is getting cold and you guys are starting to burn, I am ready to come down and ride for a tour.
Brad,
We've definitely been tearing it up in the city lately. Unfortunetly, I've been doing my 4 month detail on the ambo and haven't been able to partake in any fires. (With the exception of doing the 2nd due truck's work for them a couple weeks ago. Story for another day with a frosty one...) Anyways, we'll look to get together sometime after inaugeration and I finish up my tech exam process. Was supposed to go to the training academy this past week, but it got postponed to the 28th. Hopefully after that, it'll be show up to work every 4th day and enjoy the greatest job in the fire service- tillering around Capitol Hill! We'll be in touch. (plus I'm still looking to treat the guys that helped me move to a Bears game, so I'll let you know about that too)
TJ
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