The following news article is from the Lykens Standard, September 9, 1927, via Newspapers.com.
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FISHERVILLE SUFFERED $15,000 BLAZE LABOR DAY AFTERNOON
Effective work by a bucket brigade of 150 villagers and volunteer firemen from five towns, aided by a change in the wind direction, saved the town of Fisherville, Jackson Township, four miles from Halifax, from being wiped out by fire Monday afternoon.
Before the fire was under control nineteen buildings, including six barns, four hog pens, three chicken pens, two sheds, two corn cribs, a work shop and a private garage were destroyed.
The loss is estimated at between $14,000 and $15,000, although it will cost almost twice as much to replace the same type of structures with present-day building costs. Five head of hogs, a pony and some chickens were burned. The cause of the fire had been undermined.
This was Fisherville‘s most disastrous fire, although sixteen years ago fire destroyed the Fisherville shirt and Laird and Company, general store.
Sees Flames
Mrs. G. H. Westbrook, wife of the proprietor of the Victor Hotel in Fisherville, saw flames shooting out of the barn of Fred J. Meckley at 2:45 o’clock Monday afternoon. Meckley conducts a general store opposite the hotel. With telephones to the town out of service, messengers were rushed to Halifax for help to save the town from destruction. A general alarm was sounded in Halifax and 100 men responded under the direction of W. J. Jury, fire chief, and L. E. Eby, connected with the State Fire Marshal’s office.
Before the Halifax department arrived, the villagers formed a bucket brigade. Everybody worked. Women pumped the water from wells while the men carried it to halt the progress of the growing conflagration.
With the spread of the flames the Elizabethville, Millersburg, Duncannon and Camp Curtin Fire Company of Harrisburg, with a pumper and fifteen men, responded.
It required thirty-eight minutes to make the trip from Harrisburg, members of the Camp Curtin Company said. The Allison Fire Company apparatus broke down near Halifax, and did not reach the fire. Chief Tawney of Harrisburg accompanied the Harrisburg firemen. The Camp Curtin pumper had 4000 feet of hose, but as no water supply was available the firemen’s efforts were confined to playing a stream of chemicals on the flames.
Wind Drives Fire
With a southeast wind blowing, the flames were driven to the barns of W. H. Miller, the Rev. J. F. Stabley, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church, Mrs. Lillie C. K. Snyder, James Meckley, and the Victor Hotel. The flames zig-zagged across the street, taking a structure here and another there.
At 4 o’clock when the firemen and townspeople thought the town was doomed, a shift of wind from the southeast to the northwest saved the day.
For a time the residence of Miss Emma Bixler in Second Street, was threatened and the cornice was on fire several times, but the firemen saved it.
The outbuildings on the property of John Bixler were in danger, and if they had caught fire buildings and residences of John Bixler, Penrose Miller, William Bowman, Miss Dolly Eisenower and Samuel Zearling would probably have been burned to the ground.
The cattle shed of the Victor Hotel was on fire several times, but this was saved by the firemen, who used ladders effectively. For a time the Knights of Pythias Hall nearby was in danger.
Starts In Barn
The barn of Fred J. Meckley that was burned was 64 x 30 feet, and it was there that the fire started. Meckley said he was in the barn an hour before the fire broke out and everything was all right. A quantity of mill feed, bran, middlings, meal, chicken feed, roofing paper, paints and other merchandise was stored in the barn. Meekley’s five hogs were burned in the sty and a pet pony owned by Eugene Meekley, his 14-year-old son, a pet with the family for several years, was lost. In addition he lost a quantity of second-hand lumber, four tons of hay, two tons of straw and a large amount of kindling wood.
In the grain house Meekley lost thirty bushels of rye, twenty-five bushels of corn on the cob in addition to a cultivator and a number of chickens, Mr. Meekley places his loss at $3500 with probably $1500 insurance.
Church Loses Property
The Rev. J. F. Stabley places his seasonal loss at $400 and that of Messiah Lutheran congregation at $500 with apparently no insurance carried. A barn, corn crib, hog pen, chicken house and work shop owned by the congregation were burned. Several times the roof of the parsonage was on fire, but was extinguished by volunteers. Tools and other property of the Rev. Mr. Stabley are valued at $400. The congregation lost 1000 feet of lumber, tables, and benches used for the picnics annually. The congregation had planned to hold this event tomorrow.
W. Henry Miller‘s barn, 45 x 35 ft., a pig sty, and a corn crib were destroyed by fire. He places his loss at $800 with insurance approximating $300.
On the premises of Mrs. Lillie C. K. Snyder a barn, 30 x 45 feet, a chicken house and a wagon shed were burned, entailing a loss of $3500, the insurance carried is about $400. Just before the fire Oliver Holtzman removed his horse from the barn.
Hotel Loses Buildings
The loss at the Victor Hotel, which is owned by E. A. Koons of Millersburg, while estimated at $3500, may be partially covered by insurance. Russell Fitting, of the United States Tire Company, Harrisburg, had an automobile stored in the private garage at the Victor Hotel, and his loss is estimated at about $150. He had the car stored there several weeks. The barn destroyed was 30 x 50 feet. A chicken house was destroyed also.
When the fire was at its height, it was reported that Dick Meckley, son of James Meckley, was in the barn. Later he was found safely at his home.
Women of the town were busy Monday night making sandwiches and coffee for the volunteer firemen, and all of the 200 residents of the town of Fisherville, expressed their thanks for the volunteer firemen from surrounding towns that assisted. The area of the fire covered a city block, although scattered across the street of the town.
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