In the early evening hours the tones dropped for a fire on East Main Street in Elizabethville. Lykens' Company 22 responded to assist Elizabethville's Company 21. With the fire being just around the corner from Elizabethville's station at the time, responding Company 21 firefighters saw flames blowing out of a second floor window of a rather large commercial building on the corner of East Main and Vine Streets. The building housed a retail clothing store on the first floor with apartments on the second and third floors and a neighboring house attached. Lead by Assistant Chief Jacque Wertz, Elizabethville's 64 Hahn attached to a hydrant two doors east of the blaze and went to work. An exterior attack with a 2?-inch line made a quick knockdown of the main bulk of the fire, giving the interior crews a few extra minutes to ready for their assault. Lines were pulled inside and the task of looking for hot spots proceeded for about an hour. While the interior crew was looking for extensions, other crews and residents emptied the clothing store stock, carrying it across the street to the Methodist Church. The cause of the fire was a television set in the living room of the Robert Sitlinger family. There was major damage, but it was repairable. It was a long night on Main Street. Thanks to Tom Welker for the call detail.
A first alarm assignment was dispatched for a stove fire, bringing Engine and Truck 22, Engine and Squad 23, and Engine 24. Engine-22 arrived on side-1 and discovered that the stove fire was contained within the appliance. Chief-22 held the box to Company-22. The crew disconnected and removed the stove to the side yard. No damage was done to the house, but the stove was ruined.
Truck 22 was dispatched to Tower City, Schuylkill County, for what was initially reported as a chimney fire. Truck 22 responded with a crew of five, and arrived on scene to find that the structure was well involved, with fire and smoke throughout the first and second floors. Truck was unable to get close enough to use the boom due to the property being set back too far from the lower street. The crew donned airpaks and took hand tools and the thermal imaging camera to the scene. The crew laddered the rear of the structure and attempted entry through the second floor bedroom windows. They were met by fire throughout the walls and worked on extinguishing and ventilating the building. Numerous wall breaches found pockets of fire everywhere. Suppression activities took quite some time. It appeared that the fire started on the first floor at a stove, traveled into the walls and ceiling above it, and worked its way throughout the rest of the second floor, finally breaking out at several locations on the south wall below the roof line. Extensive overhaul was required, with numerous caches of weapons and ammunition removed from the structure. PPV was set up on the first floor to clear remaining smoke from the structure. Companies on scene included Tower City, Muir, Orwin, Joliett, Sheridan, Reinerton, and Tower City EMS.
A first alarm assignment was dispatched on the 24-1 box to 476 East Market Street in Williamstown for a basement fire. Chief 24 on scene reported a working fire. Engines 24, 23, 66, Truck 22, Rescue 23, Tankers 24, 23, and EMS from 24 were called on the initial dispatch. Engine and Tanker 22 were dispatched later on to replace other units. Truck 22 responded with a crew of seven, Engine 22 responded with a crew of six, and Tanker 22 responded with two crew members. On the Truck's arrival at side A, there were crews working the interior of the basement, and the Truck crew was given the assignment of venting the upper floors. The crew went to work performing horizontal ventilation and overhaul. The bulk of the fire was knocked down on company 22's arrival, with smoke throughout both sides of the 2? story duplex structure. Engine 29 (Halifax) was relocated to Station 22. Crews continued to assist with venting and other duties until released by command. A fire marshal later determined the cause of the fire to be from careless smoking. Two adults and three children were displaced by the fire.
Company 21, 26, and Truck 22 dispatched class one to 316 Kocher Lane in Washington Township for a report of a trailer with heavy black smoke coming from the chimney. Truck 22 responded with 7, and was advised by Command 21 to stage on Kocher Lane and send manpower to side A. Command 21 had units not on scene to reduce response to class three and reported an apparent furnace malfunction. On arrival, the crew laddered the roof of the trailer and checked the chimney pipe, finding it clear. An interior investigation by crews from 21 found the furnace and shut it down, Command placed the box in service.
At the request of Medic 6, Company 22 dispatched class three to 600 Main Street in Lykens at the Lykens Hotel for forcible entry. Chiefs 22 and 22-2 went POV and Truck 22 responded with 4. On arrival, the crew used the Knox key to gain entry to the apartment for EMS and then went available.
Company 22 alerted to a class three pump detail request at 403 South Second Street in Lykens Boro. Utility 22 responded with 4 and on arrival found that the external discharge hose from the basement sump pump has partially frozen and was restricting water flow. After clearing the hose the Company went available.
Company 24 and Truck 22 dispatched class one to 225 North West Street in Williamstown for an automatic fire alarm. Truck 22 responded with 3 and was canceled by Chief 24-1 while enroute.
Company 22 alerted class three to 512 Market Street in Lykens for a water leak in an apartment building. Chief 22 and 3 members responded POV to the scene. On arrival at a 33 foot by 41 foot 3 story wood frame apartment building the first floor tenant advised of water coming thru his ceiling from the upstairs apartment. Members entered the building and forced entry into the second floor apartment and found a frozen sink faucet flowing water onto the floor. Water supply was secured and the property owner was advised. Members then cleared from the scene.
On December 26, 1907, Liberty Hose Company No. 2 lost its President, Richard Noble, when he was killed in a mine accident. Richard was a loader and driver in the mines of the Short Mountain Coal Company. He was found smothered to death shortly after 3 p.m. Earlier, he had gone in to load his last trip. The outside loader and driver, having finished his cars, returned and waited for Richard for about 15 minutes. When Richard failed to appear, he thought something was wrong. He went inside, and along with Thomas Pell, found Richard's car seven-eighths loaded. Then with the help of David Kolva, they searched for Richard and found him wedged in the battery. They found the trap door in the manway open, showing that Noble went through it in order to start enough coal to finish loading his car. He was smothered to death at the age of 24. He was survived by a wife, a three-year-old son, his mother, three brothers, and a sister.
A workshop and two garages were destroyed at 693 Railroad Street, Millersburg. The workshop and garage of Harry Miller and the garage of Florence Travitz were destroyed in the 4:40 p.m. blaze. Fire was believed to have started in the garage and spread by wind. The Millersburg Fire Company was assisted by the Halifax Fire Company.
December 26, 1811, was a deadly night in Richmond Virginia when the scenery of the Richmond Theatre caught fire during a show. The Pantomime, ?The Bleeding Nun? was just starting the second act when the raised scenery of the first act caught fire, also igniting the 35 other scenes hanging above the stage. Once the flames were noticed, panic overcame the crowd. Everyone began pushing and running toward the one exit. Of the 598 people in the theatre that night, seventy-two persons died - 54 were women and 18 were men, among them Governor George W. Smith who had plunged back into the burning building to rescue his child.
A large portion of the Chinese part of Hong-Kong was destroyed by fire on December 26, 1851, including all the printing offices, the finest edifices and public buildings. There was a loss of nearly 500 houses and many human lives.
An exploding propane gas tank at the Taeyokale Hotel in Seoul, South Korea, caused the worst hotel fire in history on December 26, 1971. One-hundred-sixty-six people died as a result of the fire.
Tsunamis triggered by an earthquake under the Indian Ocean killed more than 200,000 people in 13 countries on December 26, 2004. At least 128,000 people died in Indonesia alone. The massive sea surge was triggered when an earthquake caused the sea floor to jolt vertically by about 33 feet, which displaced hundreds of cubic miles of water. The resulting waves travelled at speeds of up to 497mph.
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