FIREMAN CAUGHT WHEN WALLS OF BUILDING FALL
Condition of two others critical as result of blaze at Commerce and Dove Streets; men are trapped.
Bert Burris
Death Made News: July 1, 1923

One fireman was killed and five others injured, three serious, and property loss estimated at $175,000 was caused during a fire which destroyed the two-story brick building occupied by the Texas Wheel and Body company's plant, Commerce and Dove streets, shortly after 5 o'clock Saturday afternoon.

Bert Burris, captain, engine company No. 10, Fair Park, 23 years old, was killed when tons of brick fell on him when the west wall of the building collapsed, crushing the frame structure to the ground.

The injured:

Assistant Chief, Charley Jones, in command of Oak Cliff fire apparatus, internally injured, his kidneys crushed and severely bruised about the body and head. His condition is critical.

MAY NOT RECOVER:

Ralph H. Stepp, fireman, engine company No. 8, 26 years old, 614 Exposition Avenue, left leg broken, right arm broken and severe bruises about the body. Condition critical.

Alfred G. (Allie) Brantley, 40 years old, engine company No. 3, 1913 South Harwood street, injuries to the head and bruises about the body. Condition not critical.

Captain Oscar F. Walter, hook and ladder company No. 6, cuts and bruises on the face and head.

Kenneth J. Spier, assistant chief's driver, at Fair Park station, cut on the hand and face.

D. W. Quill, ambulance driver for Ed C Smith and Bros., cut on face and head, arm injured. Quill rushed to the rescue of the injured firemen and was struck with a brick which fell from the wall.

Burris Trapped in Rear Room.

Burris was trapped in a rear room of the frame structure in the back of the burning building. Tons of brick, mortar and timbers fell on him, pinning him to the floor. His face and chest were crushed. He was breathing when taken from under the debris but died before reaching St. Paul's sanitarium.

The fireman was under the debris for at least thirty minutes before he could be extricated.

Jones and Stepp were caught at the entrance to a narrow passageway between the burning building and the frame structure. They had just walked into the passage intending to go to the rear of the building when the wall fell without an instant's warning. Both men were almost completely covered by the falling wall.

Firemen and hundreds of spectators rushed to the stricken men and began moving the debris. Calls were sent out for ambulances and in a few minutes several were bearing the injured to St. Paul's sanitarium.

Brantley was in the rear of the frame structure with Walter and several other firemen. A brick from the crumbling wall struck him on the right side of his head knocking him to the ground.

Firemen who were standing on the truck in the alley jumped to work. In less than five minutes after the wall had fallen the injured were dug out of the debris and were in ambulances on the way to hospitals.

"Five minutes before the crash came, Chief Jones asked me to let him take a detail of men with a line of hose up the stairway and fight the flames from within, " said Chief Myers. "I told him that I was afraid of the building falling and would not let him go. He and the men he was handling then started back towards the rear and were caught in the crash."

Chief Myers was deeply affected by the accident that cost the life of one of his men and serious and minor injuries to several other members of the department.

Building Is Crushed.

Sam Greenburg, who operates the Dallas Iron and Metal company, was in his place of business when the crash came. How he escaped death is a miracle. Almost all of the roof of the eastern half of the building was crushed and the east wall was pushed in, causing heavy timbers and brick to fall to the floor. Greenburg, however, was only slightly injured and did not want to get in an ambulance to go to a hospital for medical attention.

A moment before the crash came a man was seen standing in front of the entrance to the Dallas Iron & Metal Company. It was at first reported that he was also buried under the debris and firemen, immediately started a search for his body, but a minute or two later he was found very much alive in front of the fire station a half block further east on Commerce street.

How Burris Died.

The body of Burris was found in the rear part of the frame building, which was only one-story in height and received the bulk of the weight of the falling wall. The opinion is expressed that when Burris saw the wall beginning to topple he leaped through a window of the frame building in an effort to escape. He was not quick enough, however, and the crashing wall of the three-story brick buried him under tons of broken timbers, brick and mortar. It was more than an hour after the wall crashed before the body was found by a detail of firemen ordered by Chief Myers to make a search of the debris.

There were thirty or more firemen manning hose lines on the Commerce street front of the building when the walls crashed. Some of them had narrow escapes but not a man working on this end of the building was injured. First Assistant Chief Joe Marder and a number of firemen were on the roof of the three-story building on the east when the crash came. They stuck to their posts to a man, although realizing that some of their comrades had been killed or maimed. There was also danger every moment that the building on which they were working would catch fire.

Fire Starts on Second Floor.

The fire started on the second floor of the three-story occupied by the Texas Wheel & Body Works and the American Auto Baking & Enamelling Co.

R. F. Robinson, manager of the wheel and body concern, estimated his lost at approximately $100,000. W. P. Anderson and Paul Fox, owners of the enamelling plant said their loss would probably run $10,000. The loss to the building will reach approximately $60,000. The building is owned by the Charles F. Bolanz estate. Damage to the frame structure occupied by the Dallas Iron & Metal Co will run approximately $5,000, according to Sam Greenberg, owner.

A three-five alarm was sounded within a few minutes after the fire was discovered and the first detail of firemen reached the scene.

M. B. Gilson, manager of the Texas Auto Market, which adjoins the burned building on the east, said that he heard a muffled explosion and in a few minutes dense clouds of black smoke poured from the windows and roof of the building.

This is the second time within the last two years fire has wrecked the building.

Burris a Hero.

Bert Burris proved a hero at a fire on Elm street eighteen months ago when with his unusual strength he held up some heavy timbers and prevented several of his brother firemen from being crushed to death. He was one of the best loved firemen in the department.

L. B. Robinson, member of the firm of the Texas Wheel & Body Works, said: "Our loss financially is nothing compared to the sorrow I feel at the loss of the life of Bert Burris, who died at his post of duty."

K. J. Spier, fireman at Fair Park station, was standing beside Burris just before the fatal accident.

" I called to Burris," said Spiers, "that wall is going to cave in Burt." Burris said to me, "What did you say?" I then repeated what I had said. As I did so the wall began to fall. Burt's last words were, "There it is, Butch."

Spiers escaped with slight injuries running through the debris into a building.

Burris is survived by his wife, one daughter, Louise Marie; one brother, Boyd Burris; a sister, Mrs. Anna Canton, and his mother, Mrs. Mattie Watson, all of Dallas and one half brother, Andy Kenyon of Boyles, Ala.

Funeral services will be held Monday at the residence of his mother, 4218 Leland street, under the direction of the Ed C Smith & Brothers Undertaking Co.

MEDALS MAY BE AWARDED

Medals for heroism provided in a recent city ordinance likely will be given to the firemen who were seriously injured in fighting the fire at the Texas Wheel & Body Works Saturday evening. Medals for those fatally injured are given to their families.

"I deeply regret that a fireman had to give his life in the fight," said John C. Harris, acting fire and police commissioner. "I have not studied the ordinance providing medals, but we will ascertain at once under what conditions they are to be given."


THE DAILY TIMES HERALD
DALLAS, TEXAS SUNDAY MORNING JULY 1, 1923

CAPTAIN CAUGHT WHEN WALLS FALL

BERT BURRIS KILLED WHEN TEXAS WHEEL AND BOYD PLANT BURNS.

IGNITED BY EXPLOSION

Two Seriously Injured Following Blast in the Blazing Structure.

Capt. Bert E. Burris, 30 years old, of Engine Company No. 10, Fair Park Station, was killed, two other firemen possibly fatally injured and five less seriously hurt at 5:40 o'clock Saturday afternoon when walls of the burning building at Commerce and Dove streets occupied by the plant of the Texas Wheel and Body Company, collapsed, catching nearly a score of firemen under the debris on two sides of the building. A rescue party, led by Capt. T. W. Ross, found Burris' body in the ruins of the building, which was totally wrecked.

The injured are:

R. H. Stepp, 29 years old, driver No. 8 fire station, who lives at 614 Exposition avenue, East Dallas, broken left leg and arm, internal injuries, face and body bruises.

Assistant Fire Chief Charles Jones, Oak Cliff Station, broken hip, back hurt, probable internal injuries.

Capt. Oscar Walters, Hook and Ladder Company No. 6, face and head, abrasions about the body.

Al Brantley, No. 3 station, who lives at 1913 South Harwood street, bruises and abrasions.

K. J. Spier, Fair Park Station lives at 2818 Spencer street, scalp wounds, lacerations of face and hands, scraped by falling walls.

A. R. Pool, 38 years old, fireman, 1809 Browder street, south Dallas, stepped into a hole, foot injured.

G. R. Winterbauer, 28, station No. 8, stepped on a nail, treated at Emergency Hospital. Others injured are at Baylor Hospital.

Collapse Follows Blast.

When walls of the building three stories in height, fell following a muffled explosion just after the flames had broken through the roof, firemen were fighting the fire from Commerce street, from Williams street in the rear, and from a narrow alleyway on the west side of the structure.

It was in this alleyway, between the wheel and body plant and the frame junk shop adjoining that Capt. Burris met his death. Assistant Chief Jones and Fireman Stepp were caught at the corner of this alleyway by the falling walls. Smoke was so dense and the heat so intense there that it was difficult to attempt rescue and Burris' body was not recovered until a short time afterward, when the fire had been gotten under control.

A number of firemen working three water lines from the Williams street side of the structure narrowly escaped when the walls fell on that side. Part of their equipment was buried and the burst of flame following drove firemen and spectators alike many hundreds of feet away from the building.

Ambulances from the Emergency Hospital and all undertaking companies were dispatched to the scene of the fire, while police hastily established fire lines. Firemen braved death to rescue those who had fallen under the crumbling walls, while others stuck doggedly to the task of preventing further spread of the conflagration to the inflammable property on every side. Spectators on vacant (rest of paragraph missing)…..


A voluntary return to the call of duty Saturday afternoon brought death to Capt. Bert E. Burris of Fair Park Fire Station who was killed in the Texas Wheel and Body Company fire at Commerce and Dove streets.

Saturday was Capt. Burris' day off duty, but when the general alarm was sounded, he ascertained the location of the fire, and was there to do his bit, and was doing it valiantly when caught and crushed by falling walls. His skull was fractured.

Chief Tom Myers Saturday night expressed his deep sorrow at the death of Burris. "He was a splendid man," said the chief, "One of the best in the department. His only fault was that he was too game. While sorrowing for him, I can only be thankful that no more men were killed."

Burris was severely hurt in July of 1922 when caught by a falling roof in a fire on Elm street, and spent six weeks in the hospital at that time. He was 30 years old, lived at 2717 Lanway street, south Dallas, and is survived by a wife and a 4 year old daughter.

He was made a captain in the department last August.