1954 — Mar 19, kerosene explodes in home woodstove, fire, Spider Ridge ~Parkersburg, WV-9
Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 6-18-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–9 Charleston Daily Mail, WV. “Ninth Person Dies After Blaze near Parkersburg,” 3-20-54, 5.
–9 NFPA. “Editorials. Still Our Greatest Human Challenge!” Quarterly, V48/N3, Jan 1955, 193
Narrative Information
March 19, AP: “Parkersburg, March 19 (AP) – Eight members of the same family, six of them small children, died today in a fire which raced through a small farmhouse after the explosion of kerosene being used to start a stove. A ninth victim of the tragedy on Spider Ridge, seven miles northeast of here, was given little chance of recovering from burns.
“The flames quickly reduced to ashes the four-room frame dwelling of Albert Tuttle, about 50.
He had left an hour earlier to go to his job at the Parkersburg Machine Co. The dead were identified by State Trooper H. B. Burke, on information supplied by Tuttle, as:
Douglas Ray Tuttle, 3, Tuttle’s son;
Helen Hoce, 23, a stepdaughter of Tuttle, and her two children, Sandra Kay, 4, and a 6-months-old baby, whose name and sex were not learned. [Belinda Lou Hoce.[1]]
Mrs. Irene Starcher, 19, another stepdaughter of Tuttle, and her two children, William Holly Starcher, 2, and Amber Rose Starcher, 1 week old, and
Arlen Ray Bailey, 6, a nephew of Tuttle.
“Burke said the Bailey child’s mother, Mrs. Ray Dowler, lives at Portsmouth, Ohio.
“Tuttle’s wife, Nellie, 43, was in grave condition at Camden-Clark Hospital here. Trooper Burke quoted Mrs. Tuttle’s physician as reporting that 90 per-cent of her body was burned.
“Six bodies had been recovered late today from the little farm-house along unpaved Spider Ridge
Road. Burke said the missing bodies were those of week-old Amber Rose Starcher and the 6-month-old Hoce baby. The trooper was doubtful that the missing bodies would be found.
“Three Tuttle children escaped from the blazing home without injury except for a burned hand sustained by 15-year-old Albert Tuttle, Jr. The others who escaped were Sharon Ann, 10, and William Lee, 6.
“Albert, Jr., related that he, Sharon Ann and William Lee were in the kitchen about 7 a.m. when their mother tried to start a fire in a wood stove in the living room. Mrs. Tuttle used a five-gallon
can to pour kerosene into the stove, Albert Jr. said. There must still have been a live ember in the
stove from a previous fire, because the kerosene exploded.
“Sharon Ann and William Lee fled from the house. Mrs. Tuttle was in the living room with her clothing aflame. Albert Jr. said he dragged her from the house and ripped the burning garments from her. The youth said that by that time the fire had made too much headway for him to go back inside to the others. He said they were awake when the fire began.” (Beckley Post-Herald, WV. “Wood County Fire Wipes Out 8 Lives.” 3-20-1954, p. 1.)
March 20, AP: “Parkersburg (AP) — Mrs. Nellie Tuttle, 43, died in a hospital here today, the ninth victim of a fire which yesterday swept a farmhouse on Spider Ridge, seven miles northeast of Parkersburg….” (Charleston Daily Mail, WV. “Ninth Person Dies After Blaze near Parkersburg,” 3-20-1954, p. 5.)
Sources
Beckley Post-Herald, WV. “Wood County Fire Wipes Out 8 Lives.” 3-20-1954, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=86358205&sterm
Charleston Daily Mail, WV. “Ninth Person Dies After Blaze near Parkersburg,” 3-20-1954, p. 5.
At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=39886916&sterm=tuttle+fire
National Fire Protection Association. “Editorials. Still Our Greatest Human Challenge!” Quarterly, Vol. 48, No. 3, Jan 1955, p. 193.
[1] Name provided by Aimee Massey on June 15, 2024, using findagrave.com.