Loss High, Deaths, Injuries In Recent Altoona Blaze
The
Levan Building in Altoona was severely damaged in a six-hour fire last
Tuesday night. Property damage was in the vicinity of $100,000 and in
addition; the conflagraton <sic> took a tolal <sic> of two
dead and five injured.
The blaze was discovered in the
basement of a shoe store about 6:30 o'clock p. m., and two alarms were
sounded. Firemen arrived on the scene promptly in answer to the alarms
and were on duty until after midnight. Traffic was generally in a
snarled condition and was considerably delayed by blocked-off streets
and the fier-figbting <sic> equipment.
Two elderly persons were trapped in their rooms and died of suffocation. Four firemen were injured and given hospital treatment.
The
dead included Mrs. Minnie Brubaker, aged 69, who was pronounced dead
upon arrival at the Altoona Hospital; and John Hammond, 68, who died at
the Mercy Hospital as a result of inhaling flames and suffocation.
Firemen
injured included Chief Paul Amheised, who suffered from a back injury
received in a fall. Donald Brinkley, fireman, was admitted to the
Altoona Hospital suffering a possible skull fracture. Captain G. R.
Crouse, overcome by smoke, was treated at the Mercy Hospital. Thomas F.
Tobin was admitted to the Altoona Hospital when overcome by smoke.
Stores
and business establishments damaged included two stores in the building
next door, where damage was confined to that done by the smoke; the
Williams A Gossard Tobacco Shop on Eleventh street and the dispatch
office of the trolley company.
Max Tarr, an employee of
the shoe store, first detected smoke through the basement door, and
when he opened the door, flames and smoke poured out. He said smoke was
very dense and he was forced to leave the building.
Policemen were called to the scene and roped off eleventh street to hold back the crowds which gathered.
The
fire spread swiftly through the building, and firemen fought stubbornly
to check the advancing fire. Flames several times spread to adjoining
buildings, but alertness on the part of the firemen prevented the flames
from spreading further.
Officials of the firm which
had been managing the Levan building, said that damage estimates were in
the vicinity of $100,000. Several days time will be necessary before an
accurate damage appraisal can be made.
Many local
residents were in Altoona at the time of the fire, and not a few of them
found it difficult to make their way homeward because of the necessity
for rerouting traffic.
~ Bellwood Bulletin, 07-Feb-1946, Page 1, Columns 5 & 6
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