How these stories came to be- to be continued...

A look back at the fallen

firefighters of York

Harry Saltzgiver

Lewis Strubinger

Horace Strine

1904

At a little after 2 in the afternoon of April 6., 1904, a fire broke out at the York Carriage Co., 238-242 N. George St.

"As soon as the firemen arrived at the plant," said the Dispatch, "they found the annex on North Street ablaze and that they were facing one of the biggest fires in recent years in York."

Every fire company in York responded. Believed to have started on the first floor the fire was soon out of control, roaring up to the sixth floor and through the roof of the annex.

"At four o'clock the entire plant of the carriage works was in flames and the firemen and thousands of spectators realized the plant was doomed to destruction," said The Dispatch.

 The firemen had about a dozen streams of water on the blaze, and "they fought heroically and stubbornly and some of the men even took risks that imperiled their lives."

More than 100 employees had to flee the upper floors, some even jumped from windows.

"The fire was the fiercest one ever witnessed in York," said The Dispatch. The Variety Ironworks, next to the annex, was badly damaged when the walls of the annex toppled.

By dinnertime, the annex was destroyed.

Between 9 and 10 p.m., members of Vigilant Fire Co. on West Market Street were working near the south wall of the carriage works despite warnings the wall might fall.

And it did, burying five members of the Vigilant Fire Co. in the debris.

Two escaped. Harry Saltzgiver, 31 S. Newberry St., Lewis Strubinger, 170 W. Princess St., and Horace Strine, 43 S. Newberry St., died.

Saltzgiver and Strubinger were removed from the rubble that night. Strine's body could not be recovered until the next ay for fear of collapsing ruins.

The three fallen firefighters were accorded funeral rites worthy of heroes. All services were timed so mourners could attend each one.

Rites were held at each man's home.

"The funeral of Horace Strine was particularly sad because the casket in which his body lay could not be opened," for viewing, said The Dispatch. Strine, a 23-year-old worker at the Norway Steel Plant, was survived by a wife and two children.

Saltzgiver, 35, was the next to be buried, "the crowd which had gathered at the grave was larger than this morning, and the services again impressive," said The Dispatch. The 35-year-old also left a widow and children.

 Strubinge, 32, was in a coffin surrounded by a large fireman's shield made of roses. He, too, left a wife and five children, the youngest of which was only 2 weeks old. He had worked for the Martin Carriage Works.

"At the close of the services," wrote The Dispatch, "the procession re-formed and returned to the city, and in this way one of the saddest events in the history of the York City Fire Departments was brought to a close."

Elias Spangler

1909

A fire alarm was sounded at the Goodwill Fire Co. in the 800 block of East Market Street on Dec. 1, 1909.

As a result a door would be smashed, a fire wagon damaged, a horse injured, and a volunteer would die.

Elias Spangler, a contractor and mechanic by trade, started for the wagon, say news accounts, and asked several others whether he should take the reins as the regular driver was away at supper.

After some hesitation, and despite being advised not to do so, Spangler jumped on the wagon and took the lines in hand.

Starting west on Market Street, "he was apparently losing control of the horses when Mr. Gipe (the driver) appeared and wanted to relieve Mr. Spangler. Feeling confident of managing the horses, Mr. Spangler held on the reins."

But soon Spangler was thrown off, and dashed into a tree, suffering deep facial gashes, broken ribs, and a fractured skull. He died the next day, survived by a widow and three sons.

The runaway fire wagon was stopped after trolleys blocked the way at Broad Street.

"East York citizens are much exercised over the fact that the entire section in case of fire has only the Goodwill chemical engine to depend on. Some action will be taken today to give the East end the protection needed," it was reported.

As it turned out the fire call was not necessary. The small brush fire was put out with a bucket of water.

William Bush

1919

At about midnight on June 9, 1915, 41-year-old pipefitter William Bush, stationed at the Rescue Fire Co. on South George Street, woke up to a fire alarm from West Jackson Street. 

As Bush readied the steamer, he started to hook up two horses and another man prepared the chemical wagon.

For unknown reasons, when the chemical wagon pulled away, Kirk, a steamer horse, bolted.

"Bush had hooked the horses and was about to mount his seat," said The Dispatch. "The animals bolted from the engine house before Bush reached his seat and was dashed to death as he clung to the reins trying to stop them."

Bush held on until reaching St. Mary's rectory, when he fell to the street.

The runaway horses kept going north on George Street, when Earl Greene, 142 W. Princess St., heroically "boarded the steamer from the rear, made a perilous climb over the swaying apparatus to the seat, and brought the runaways under control."

Bush, 324 S. George St., was dead of skull and rib fractures by the time he was placed in beer magnate Theodore Helb's car and taken to the hospital.

He was survived by a young son, who went to live with an aunt in Baltimore.

The fire destroyed an Overland car and garage, causing $600 damage.

Harold Strebig

1928

The next fatal fire, on Jan. 9, 1928, took one life and caused a public outcry for a city building code.

The fire at Susquehanna Garage, 825 Cleveland Ave., drew four fire companies.

"When the firemen arrived on the scene the flames had burst through the roof," and were threatening nearby buildings, said The Dispatch. Several residents of apartments above the cinderblock garage had to be rescued.

Six men from Rex Fire Co. "began to work to protect the line of frame garages behind the burning building."

Unknown to them, a gas pipeline had broken, and the vapors filled the upper rooms. Upon contact, the resulting explosion hurled bricks and composition board over the firemen.

Twenty-year-old Harold Strebig, who was otherwise a Boy Scout leader in Wrightsville, "received the force of the downfall of bricks and composition board."

Strebig never regained consciousness and died at York Hospital several hours later from assorted injuries.

His two brethren suffered compound fractures, broken ribs, and severe head injuries.

"Expressions that the construction of the building and its condition now, should show to the city that a building code is very badly needed," said The Dispatch. The Fire Chief had been seeking a code for two years.

The day after the fire, "A meeting of the board of directors of the Manufacturer's Association of York was held," at The Lafayette Club said The Dispatch, "for the purpose of the changes planned for the fire department."

The directors of the Chamber of Commerce also met to discuss their similar concerns, and both groups planned to approach city council, which wanted to replace the chief and his assistant.

The two groups wanted "to consider the wisdom of council's proposed action and what might be done about it," said The Dispatch.

There also had been some concern about the response of Eagle Fire Co. and the condition of equipment.

When Eagle hooked up their hose, it had immediately burst, causing a delay in the firefighting. The Eagle company had reported several times that they neededa drying tower, and that they lacked enough hose.

"It is known that because of the parsimony practiced by the city government;" said The Dispatch, "many of the fire companies are compelled to work with fire hose little better than sausage casing."

Strebig's funeral was attended by more than 3,000 mourners.

Walter Hugentugler

1934

On May 9, 1934, a false alarm and a practice no longer allowed caused the death of 40-year-old Walter Hugentugler, of Rex Hook and Ladder Co.

After a report of a chimney fire, as the Rex truck was pulling out, Hugentugler "tried to jump upon the Rex truck after it was partly out of the fire house."

"He slipped and fell," said The Dispatch, "and the rear wheel on the left hand side of the apparatus passed over his right leg between the knee and ankle."

Hugentugler, 525 S. Court Ave., was taken to York Hospital and eventually died from his injuries. He was survived by his mother and various siblings.

Today firefighters are not allowed to ride on the side or rear of fire trucks.

One of the firefighters who assisted Hugentugler after his fall was Eugene Greiman, who would be the next York firefighter to meet his fate.

Eugene Greiman

1940

On Oct. 29, 1940, Eugene Greiman, a driver of Laurel Fire Co., responded to a fire at the York Paper Manufacturing Co., 242 W. Princess St.

Greiman "drove his apparatus onto the premises of York Caramel Co. on the north side to the eastern approach of the College Avenue bridge," said The Dispatch.

While stretching the hose line, fellow firefighters noticed Greiman was fumbling andhaving difficulties, and "he collapsed and fell to the ground."

A police car tried to drive him to the hospital, but he died. Greiman, 69, had suffered a heart attack.

Greiman, 324 S. George St., left behind a widow and three sons.

The fire did minor damage to the roof of the building. The York Paper Co. described it as "trifling."

The cause of the fire was unknown, but a company spokesman thought "that carelessness on the part of canned-heaters probably started it." The "canned-heaters" hung out under many bridges along the creek.

Henry Rudy

1943

 Eagle Fire Co. answered an alarm on Feb. 25, 1943, for a grass fire at Vander and Boundary avenues.

Henry Rudy of 543 S. Duke St. ran and tried to jump on the back of the truck.

"When Rudy jumped for the truck he succeeded in getting one hand and one foot on the apparatus and as the driver made a left hand turn onto Jackson Street," said The Dispatch, "Rudy lost his balance, fell on the street, slid about 20 feet and finally struck his head against the curb near Jessup Place on Jackson Street."

Rudy, 67, had been warned by company trustees "to stay off the apparatus because of his feeble condition," said coroner H.L. Zech.

A retiree from the York Wall Paper Co. and the federal government, he left behind a son and a daughter.

J. William Wills

1957

Tragedy would once again strike a member of Vigilant Fire Co. on March 29, 1957, and at least six other firefighters were injured, when a huge fire raged through the first block of South George Street downtown.

J. William Wills, "one of six persons hospitalized during the blaze that felled a score of others succumbed unexpectedly at York Hospital," said The Dispatch.

The fire was on the west side of the street and involved most of the area from Mason Avenue to King Street. Businesses destroyed from 42 to 52 S. George St. included International Jewelers, a beauty parlor, dental lab, and the Famous Restaurant. More than 50 people had to be evacuated from the Brooks Hotel. The fire caused more than $500,000 damage.

The 46-year-old Wills, of 570 Salem Ave., a longtime volunteer and the father of six, "had a cardiac condition," said an official, and "smoke inhalation undoubtedly contributed to his death."

Wills was the son of Harry Wills, York's first full-time paid fire chief. He left behind six children.

Donald R. Harrison

1971

The most recent fallen firefighter, Donald R. Harrison died in a freak accident Feb. 25, 1971. A 60-foot tree fell across a ladder truck.

A city aerial truck was in the 600 block of South Duke Street, near what is now the Crispus Attucks Center, on routine patrol.

"Witnesses said the tree broke off at the roots and fell over the street, striking the apparatus," said The Dispatch.

Harrison, 35, of Thomasville, was a passenger in the canvas-covered cab of the truck. He had joined the fire department the previous June.

Area residents said they had complained about the tree nearly a dozen times in two years to city officials, something the city denied. But a citywide examination of trees was ordered by Mayor Eli Eichelberger. The ladder truck, which sustained $11,000 in damage, was to be fitted with an armored cab.

Harrison's smashed aluminum hat now sits on a pedestal in the Fire Museum.

He was the first paid fireman to lose his life in the line of duty. He left behind a widow and two young sons.

Today's fire equipment laws prohibit canvas and open-truck cabs.

[ Originally published as "A look back at the fallen" October 5, 1997 in the York Sunday News ]

History of the monument

The monument to York's 11 fallen firefighting heroes is in the yard of the Fire Museum of York County. With a lantern held high, as if looking for an exit, the statue faces the building, its back to the main street.

The statue was moved to this site in 1981 from its original site across from William Penn High School.

In 1900, "The Rescue (fire company) dedicated an impressive statue in Penn Common to perpetuate its memory and that of firemen," says the history of York City Fire Department.

"Situated on a large granite pedestal was a life-size bronze figure of a Rescue fireman in full uniform, carrying an infant in his arms." In 1928 it was turned over to the city in honor of all city firefighters.

When moved in 1981, "It was dismantled stone by stone. A mason named Jerry Crane donated his time," said museum president George Kroll.

There almost was a 12th name on the fireman's monument, but it turned out to be a "false alarm."

In February of 1904, Laurel and Vigilant Fire companies sent crews to Baltimore, by train, to help battle a huge fire that consumed more than 140 acres of downtown Baltimore.

The Gazette called it "the most sever firefighting test the firemen ever experienced."

One York man, Jacob Ilgenfritz, was first reported dead in the fire, but he in fact lived.

The Fire Museum has several remnants of what is referred to as The Great Baltimore Fire: a melted typewriter and a clock.

But why is the statue of the fireman facing the building, and not the street?

"In the fire service, it's a long standing tradition to rise ofr a moment of silence," during meetings and such, said Kroll, "and face the direction of the setting sun in honor of our fallen comrades."

[ Originally printed Oct. 5, 1997 in the York Sunday News ]