1916 — Dec 22, Fire, Kansas Masonic Charity Home, Wichita, KS — 5
— 5 Atchison Daily Globe. “City Items.” 12-23-1916, p. 8.
— 5 NFPA. “Multiple-Death Fires in Nursing Homes & Homes for the Aged, 1921-1978 (list)”.
Narrative Information
Dec 22, AP: “Wichita, Dec. 22 — Four bodies, all of adults, have been taken from the ruins of the Kansas Masonic Home which was burned her last night. It is impossible to identify or even determine the sex. They were in the basement in 18 inches of water….Gertrude Wiegle, twenty years old, of Burden, Kas., is the fifth person believed to be missing….
“…scores of old men, women and children were exposed to the flames and blizzard weather. Many were rescued with difficulty and several, made unconscious by smoke and fore or overcome by cold as the fled from the burning structure in their night clothes, were taken to hospitals and private homes.
“Ninety-two persons, of whom 43 were children, were asleep in the home when the fire broke out under the women’s department in the north wind soon after midnight this morning. The eight degree weather made useless the efforts of firemen to quench the flames as the waster froze almost as fast as it came from the hose. Members of the fire department and volunteers devoted themselves to the rescue of the entrapped occupants. Children were found unconscious and brought out through the smoke and flames which rapidly enveloped the building….
“The home was the property of the Masonic lodge of Kansas….The fire had gained great headway before being discovered by a passerby. Several thousand gallons of crude oil stored in thee basement added fury to the flames. Two firemen made a final trip into the building in the children’s department, crawled 60 feet and found three children hidden in a closet. Many of the children wrapped themselves in bed and tried to hide from the fire. Firemen found them hidden under beds, in corners of the rooms, and elsewhere.” (AP. “Kansas Masonic Home Destroyed.” Iola Daily Register, KS, 12-22-1916, p. 1.)
Dec 23: “A. W. Nicholson, secretary and treasurer of the Masonic Charity association: ‘It has been confirmed that Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ferris of Atchison, were lost in the fire that destroyed the Masonic home at Wichita…They were two of the five people who perished. Since the five bodies are burned beyond recognition, they will be buried in Wichita….There were 102 people in the building that was destroyed, and forty-one of them were children [mostly orphans]…..Aged members of the Kansas Masonic lodge and orphans of members of the lodge reside at the home.” (Atchison Daily Globe. “City Items.” 12-23-1916, p. 8.)
Sources
Associated Press. “Kansas Masonic Home Destroyed. Fire Sweeps Main Building Early This Morning. Four are Known to be Dead. Fire Hose Froze and Baffled Efforts of Fighters. One Hundred Men, Women and Children were Driven into the Cold Thinly Clad.” Iola Daily Register, KS, 12-22-1916, p. 1. Accessed 7-1-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/iola-register-dec-22-1916-p-1/?tag
Atchison Daily Globe, KS. “City Items.” 12-23-1916, p. 8. Accessed 7-1-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/atchison-daily-globe-dec-23-1916-p-8/?tag
National Fire Protection Association. “Multiple-Death Fires in Nursing Homes & Homes for the Aged, 1921-1978 (list)”. In: United States United States Congress, House of Representatives. Boarding Home Fires: The Tip of the Iceberg (Hearing before the Subcommittee on Health and Long Term Care, Select Committee on Aging, 96th Congress, First Session, April 25, 1979). Washington, DC, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979, pp. 312-314.