FIRE!

“Two Die in Ridgeville Home Fire”  was the headline in the Chronicle Telegram that evening.  The year was 1955 and this would become one of the worst tragedies in North Ridgeville’s history.  In the early morning hours of a cold February morning fire struck at a local residence.  The five room house was home to a family of four- two parents and two young children.  The mother was awakened to the smell of smoke and the feeling of heat from an already large blaze.  She yelled to her husband and attempted to run into the living room to call the fire department, but the fire had already engulfed that room and she had to turn back.  She grabbed her son from his bed and ran outside to attempt to reach her daughter through the nursery’s window, but was unable to reach her.  She bolted to the family’s garage and blew the car horn, hoping to attract attention.  Neighbor, Tim Grambley heard the horn and peered from his bedroom window to see the horror that was unfolding before his eyes.  He quickly dressed and ran to help.  He was able to shinny up a telephone pole near the baby’s bedroom and pull her from the house.  The North Ridgeville Fire Department arrived at 12:30 am, and started to extinguish the flames.  There was no city water at the time in this part of town and two tank trucks were used throughout the night alternately filling one truck at the station while emptying the other on the fire.  The mother, son and daughter were transported to the hospital, where the son was later released with minor injuries and the mother was admitted with third degree burns.  The baby daughter, however did not survive.  Twenty volunteer firemen fought the blaze until early the next morning, when it was finally extinguished near daybreak.  The father’s fate was not realized until daylight when his body was found trapped under debris inside the wreckage of the home.

The whole community was saddened by the news of the fire and the loss of human life was so horrific that there was a great resolve to help.  A committee formed to gather money and donations to help this family in their grief.  Mrs. Elsie Gaede was asked to head up the effort and by that evening a group of other caring citizens met to formulate their plan.  Residents from various areas of town volunteered to collect donations from their neighbors.  Area businesses pledged to help in any way they could, Elyria residents also offered their assistance and the plan sprung into action.

The Chronicle Telegram newspapers ran the story the following day and an outpouring of support came from friends, neighbors and sympathetic strangers- all offering  help with the effort.  Harshaw Chemical, the employer of the father, held a donation drive to help.  Two days later the Chronicle Telegram reported $60 in cash had been dropped off at their offices with the promise of more.  Mr. William Stegman built donation boxes with signs to be placed at area businesses and soon these were in place in both North Ridgeville and Elyria.  Containers were placed in the post office lobby for spare change.  Clothing was offered for the family.  Mrs. E. G. Baxter collected donations from Elyria businesses and Lou Pierce collected North Ridgeville business donations.  WEOL radio had told the story to their listeners and soon people were dropping off money and items at their station.

The coming weeks really highlighted the benefits of living in the small town of North Ridgeville.  Volunteers went house to house and collected what they could.  Local groups such as the North Ridgeville Kiwanis Youth Council, Elyria Amvets,  Elyria Bowling Association and the North Ridgeville Fire Department all gave cash donations.  The mother remained hospitalized  and during her stay donations  arrived there daily.  WEOL disc jockey Kenny Vincent was able to collected $700 from listeners and promised an auction to benefit the family on his show the following Saturday night.  Items auctioned that evening included a shirt donated by singer Eddie Fisher, a set of cuff links from singer Vic Damone, a belt from Garry Moore of TV game show fame and three autographed record albums donated by singer Perry Como.  Area merchants furthered  the cause with donations of a washing machine, a deep fryer, car seat covers and paint among other items.  In the end about $1300 was raised to help the family, which brought the WEOL contributions up to just over $2000.

The whole community took a hold of this family and showed them the compassion of neighbors helping each other and the power that we, as people, all  possess to change the life of another human being.  All told, according to a Chronicle Telegram story later in the month, the family was given over $5000- quite a healthy sum in 1955!

THAT’S what makes North Ridgeville a great place to live.

The aftermath of the fire.