1934 — Feb 20, Fire, Penn. Mem. Home (Civil War veterans widows), Brookville, PA —    10

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 12-13-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 10  Daily News, Huntingdon PA. “10 Aged Women Die…Memorial Home.” 2-20-1934, p. 1.

— 10  Indiana Evening Gazette, PA. “Joint Funeral for Victims of Home Blaze.” 2-21-1934, p.1.

— 10  NFPA. “Fires in Which There Was Loss of Life.”  NFPA Quarterly, 27/4, Apr 1934, 362.

Narrative Information

National Fire Protection Association: “Ten aged women were burned to death when a frame infirmary building, part of a home for widows of Civil War veterans, was swept by fire during one of the coldest nights of the winter.  A nurse on duty saved five other old women also quartered in the building.” (NFPA. “Fires in Which There Was Loss of Life.” NFPA Quarterly, 27/4, Apr 1934, p. 362.)

Newspaper

Feb 20: “Bulletin. Harrisburg, Pa., Feb. 20. – The State Department of Welfare had advised trustees of the Pennsylvania Memorial Home, Brookville, where 10 women were burned to death today, that a new hospital was needed.

“Brookville, Pa., Feb. 20. – Ten aged women, survivors of Civil War veterans, were burned to death in their hospital beds today when defective wiring started a fire which destroyed the frame

structure within an hour.

“The victims died silently, apparently suffocated by smoke which billowed through the hospital of the Pennsylvania Memorial Hall, driving off would-be rescuers and firemen.

“All entrances to the little frame building were blocked by the time the whistles summoned the volunteer Brookville fire department at 12:30 a. m., and rescuers were able to save only five of the 15 inmates.

“Twenty five inmates of the adjoining main building, a brick structure, were removed without difficulty. They and the five rescued from the hospital were taken to neighbors’ homes.

“Zero temperatures, and the smoke, hampered the volunteer firemen, who found themselves useless except to prevent the flames from spreading.

“The fire was discovered in a washroom shortly after midnight by Ella Hulings, a night nurse. She aided in rescuing the five survivors, but found, when she attempted to telephone firemen, that the hospital telephone line already was burned out.

“Residents of the neighborhood said they heard a scream shortly before the whistles.  They paid no attention, however, thinking it was a neighbor’s child crying….”  (Daily News, Huntingdon PA. “10 Aged Women Die in Blazing Memorial Home. Fire Takes Lives of War Veterans’ Survivors in Bed…Defective Wiring Causes Disaster.” 2-20-1934, p. 1.)

Sources

Daily News, Huntingdon PA. “10 Aged Women Die in Blazing Memorial Home.” 2-20-1934, p. 1. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=103415378&sterm=brookville+fire

Indiana Evening Gazette, Indiana, PA. “Joint Funeral for Victims of Home Blaze.” 2-21-1934, p.1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=114083902

National Fire Protection Association. “Fires in Which There Was Loss of Life.”  Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 27, No. 4, April 1934, pp 361-362.