1968 — Feb 11, Home Fire (overheated coal stove?), Franklin, Venango County, PA — 11
— 11 AP. “Franklin Area Fire Kills 11.” Indiana Evening Gazette, PA. 2-12-1968, p. 1.
— 11 NFPA. “The Major Fires of 1968.” Fire Journal, Vol. 63, No. 3, May 1969, p. 13.
Narrative Information
NFPA: “Eleven people, including ten children, died in a dwelling fire in Franklin, Pennsylvania, on February 11, when they were trapped in the second story of the two-story house. The mother of the children awoke and discovered the fire. When she was unable to get down the stairway, she herded the children to a window, where she jumped. Then she tried to coax the others to follow. When they refused to jump she ran to a neighbor’s home about half a mile away to report the fire. The eleventh victim was a handyman. The cause of the fire was thought to be an overheated coal-burning stove.” (NFPA. “The Major Fires of 1968.” Fire Journal, V63, N3, May 1969, p. 13.)
Newspaper
Feb 12: “Franklin, Pa. (AP) – ‘My 10 kids!’ cried the mother. ‘My 10 kids!’ Mary Grossman, 34, buried her husband two weeks ago. Now, she wept for her children. All 10 were dead. They perished early Sunday because they were afraid to jump from the second floor of their flame-filled house. Mrs. Grossman leaped first, hoping her example would give the children courage to follow. From the ground, she pleaded with them to jump. But they could not bring themselves to make the frightening leap-arid in smoke and flames they died.
“Firemen said they had no chance to save the children or the two-story frame house located near Harrisville about 15 miles south of Franklin. “When we got there the whole place was on fire,” said Fire Chief Dewayne Moore of Clintonville. “There was nothing anybody could do. It was done then,” said fireman Richard Vogan.
“A handyman, Ronald Simpson, 24, who lived with the Grossman family, also was killed.
“The only survivor was Mrs. Grossman whose husband, Albert, died about two weeks ago. Mrs. Grossman, clad only in nightclothes, ran about a quarter of a mile in below-zero weather to a neighbor’s house to get help. The neighbor, Mrs. Lolal Blair, said: “We got up at one o’clock and
we saw a fire. We heard someone at the door, and our neighbor was outside standing there in her nightgown and bare feet. “She was crying, ‘Oh, go quick and save my children. There’s ten of them in there.’….
“The children were six boys and four girls, aged one to 13. Mrs. Grossman told Mrs. Blair she roused the children from their beds on the second floor and led them to the stairway, but couldn’t get through because it was a mass of flames and smoke. She took them to a window and urged them to jump, but they wouldn’t. Then she made the leap, but they wouldn’t follow.
“Mrs. Blair said Mrs. Grossman had been in the basement drying clothes, but the cause of the fire was not learned. ‘It could have been a coal furnace,’ said Moore, ‘but we don’t know for sure.’” (Associated Press. “Franklin Area Fire Kills 11.” Indiana Evening Gazette, PA. 2-12-1968, p. 1.)
Sources:
Associated Press. “Franklin Area Fire Kills 11.” Indiana Evening Gazette, PA. 2-12-1968, p. 1. Accessed 5-18-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/pennsylvania/indiana/indiana-evening-gazette/1968/02-12?tag=franklin+fire&rtserp=tags/franklin-fire?psi=77&pci=7&ndt=ex&pd=12&pm=2&py=1968/
National Fire Protection Association. “The Major Fires of 1968.” Fire Journal, Vol. 63, No. 3, May 1969, pp. 12-14.