A early morning fire on February 24, 1990, in Loyalton, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, completely destroyed the Indian Head Inn, a landmark old hotel and restaurant on the northeast corner of the town’s main intersection. Quick action of the fire companies of Elizabethville, Lykens and Berrysburg, prevented the spread of the fire across the highway. The above photo, taken the day after the fire, shows a lineman repairing damaged wires; phone service was interrupted for more than 7000 local customers.
An interesting thing about this fire is that it was videotaped by a former chief of the Reliance Hose Company, Elizabethville. The chief’s video, which includes a television report, is available on YouTube.
Reports on the fire follow here:
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From the Pottsville Republican, February 24, 1990:
FIRE DESTROYES INDIAN HEAD INN
LOYALTON – An early morning fire destroyed the Indian Head Inn on Route 209 and knocked out phone service for 7,000 area customers.
The fire started on the second floor of the northern Dauphin County inn about 1 a.m. and caused $130,000 in damages. According to fire officials, a band was playing when the fire erupted, but people escaped with no serious injuries.
Gusts of wind blew flames across the highway, threatening homes on the other side of the street.
The owner of the inn is Michael Garnick, 30, RD1, Lykens, and fire officials indicated the building was not insured.
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From the Sunbury Daily Item, February 25, 1990:
LOYALTON INN GUTTED BY FIRE
LOYALTON – Fire destroyed the Indian Head Inn on Saturday, state police at Lykens said.
Bar patrons and the hotel’s seven residents were evacuated safely after the fire was discovered at 1:04 a. m., authorities said.
State Police Fire Marshal Thomas Santai determined that the fire originated in a second-floor rental room in the uninsured building, but the cause of the fire is still under investigation, police said. damage was estimated at $130,000 police said.
“It took us an hour to bring the fire under control, but we remained at the scene an additional twelve hours,” said Elizabethville Fire Chief Galen Lentz.
The chief said 20 to 25 mph gusts of wind fed the flames, and there was little firefighters could do.
“When we arrived at the scene the whole top of the building was burned off. We could not do much,” Lentz said.
The hotel owner was identified as Michael L. Garnick of Lykens.
The reliance Hose Company, Elizabethville, Lykens Fire Department and Berrysburg Fire Company, were summoned to the fire in northern Dauphin County.
After 12 hours on the scene, Elizabethville firefighters returned to their station and watched a videotape of the fire.
“The retired chief of 30 years got into the video business. He bought a video camera and comes along with us and tapes the fires. They are super training tools,” Lentz said.
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Incident Report, Liberty Hose Company, Lykens, February 24, 1990:
Engine 22 and Tanker 22 were dispatched to the village of Loyalton for a structure fire at the Indian Head Inn. Engine 22 responded with a crew of six. After arriving on scene, the crew made an attack on the fire by ladderong the building and going into the second floor to advance the hose line to extinguish fire. Running only from booster tank water, which quickly ran out, the crew was forced to abandon the building. Tanker 22 responded with a crew of two, but had mechanical problems while enroute to the fire and went out of service. Engine 21 was set up on side 2 of the structure, and was eventually fed by engine 26 (Engine 26’s first call) which was drafting from the Wiconisco Creek about 500 feet away. Engine 21 supplied Engine 22 with a 3-inch line. The fire building was written off, and all remaining water was used to protect exposures. A 3-story apartment building across Route 209 from the the fire began to smoke, and a 2-inch line was used from Engine 22 to protect that building. There was a spectacular fire that could be seen for many miles, with a large volume of fire visible until the building was totally consumed. Crews from companies 22, 26, 21 and 27 performed mop-up and extinguishment of many hot spots, with a lot of salvage and overhaul performed. Engine 22 lost its 35 foot ladder when the top eight feet caught fire and burned before the ladder could be removed from side 4 of the fire building. Crews went available when released by Command 21.
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Incident report from Liberty Hose Company No. 2.
News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.
Engine 21 a 1982 Haha 1500 gpm/1000 gal pumper (E’ville) responded with at least seven members on board. I was the driver/engineer on that call. As we approached Loyalton we stopped at the bridge by the Valley Inn and laid a 5″ line to the A/B corner of the fire building, and began attacking the fire. Our second out engine 21-1 a 1964 Hahn refurbished 1250 gpm/ 500 gal pumper set up a drafting operation on the north side of the bridge and began to supply engineer 21 with the 5″ hose. Engine 22 arrived and set up operations on the A/Dcorner of the fire building. As Engine 26 arrived they were instructed to back up the street from the bridge to Engine 21 and drop a 2nd 5″ line to the creek and supply eng. 21. Great job by all! Submitted by Ron Heim
My Mom, who lived above the Indian Head Inn at the time of the fire, was out with my Dad that night (they just starting dating at the time) and wasn’t home when the fire occurred and unfortunately didn’t find out about it until the next morning.