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DECEMBER 24, 1975
Apartment Blaze kills 2 By Dan Watson and Jim Ewell Two firemen died and six persons were injured when flames funneled through the 14th floor of the plush Athena condominiums, 6335 W. Northwest Highway early Tuesday. While the fire grew to five alarms, dozens of the high rise's 300 residents—some of Dallas' most prominent personalities—hung over balconies for fresh air and in some cases waited an hour amid thick smoke and fear before being led to safety by firemen. Other occupants dashed and crawled to safety down stairwells, where the walls were too hot to touch. Fire Capt. Ralph T. Lack, 48, and private Riley C. Hurst, 29, were pronounced dead on arrival at Parkland Hospital after a coworker found them collapsed in Apartment 1411. Fire officials said the two apparently ran out of air and died after becoming disoriented in dense smoke while on a door to door search for other people. Their deaths were partially attributed to a fluke "flue" effect that sucked the fire from the east end of the floor to the west, bypassing in between apartments. Mrs. Sylvia Duce, 57, was in critical condition in Presbyterian Hospital Tuesday evening after apparently inhaling smoke and falling down a stairwell while attempting to escape the 21st story condominium. Firemen rescued her husband, Mack Duce, 58, from the stairwell. He was admitted to Presbyterian for observation. Mrs. Phyllis Schepps, widow of dairy magnet Julius Schepps; June Smith, Harriet Daugherty and fireman Rick Narramore were also treated at area hospitals. Fire marshal Ernest Emerson said the blaze was apparently able to race down the hall, skipping condominiums between, because west end residents in 1412 left a hallway and patio door open while evacuating. Among prominent Dallasites rousted from their beds were: councilman Garry Weber; Paul Gittings, retired founder of Gittings photography at Neiman Marcus; oil executive and retired Air Force General Robert H. Smith; former legislator and developer Edward T. Dicker; Bishop A. Donald Davies, head of the Dallas Episcopal Diocese, and Frank Wolfe, executive vice president of Mercantile national Bank. Councilman Weber, an 11th story resident, said he dashed to the 14th floor for a first hand view. Firemen responded to the first alarm at 3:16 a.m. after 1418 occupant R. Kirkpatrick was awakened by what he thought was his cat tearing at a Christmas present. He said it wasn't the cat. "I yelled for everyone to get the hell out and then went for a fire hose, I never saw a flame, just a glow and heavy smoke," Kirkpatrick said. Kirkpatrick's brother in law, R L Daugherty, and Daugherty's wife, Harriet, were forced back into their back bedroom by the intense heat and blackness. Firemen credited their survival with the Danville, New York, resident's decision to douse the bedroom door and walls with water and wait. Kirkpatrick's residence was completely charred, except for Daugherty's back bedroom. By 3:57 a.m., the fire had grown to five alarms, and 80 firemen worked to bring the blaze under control at 4:57 a.m. Fire Chief Merrell Hendrix placed tentative loss at $150,000. Cause of the blaze remained under investigation Tuesday evening. Services for Capt. Lack, a 24 year fire department veteran, will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Anderson-Clayton Funeral Chapel, 1111 Military Parkway. Burial will be at laurel oaks in Mesquite. Lack, 9710 Military Parkway, was the captain of 27 engine station. He is survived by four children. Hurst, a former McKinney resident, lived at 1706 Meadows, Plano. He has been a Dallas fireman for three years. He is survived by a month old son and wife, Debora. Services for Hurst will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Restland memorial Chapel. Burial will be at Restland memorial Park. DECEMBER 24, 1975 Athena lacked alarm By John Cranfill Residents of the Athena Apartments complained in the aftermath of a fire Tuesday that the building did not have a fire alarm system, which the manager had been warned to install almost a year ago. Dallas Assistant Fire Chief E. H. Dudley had written the Athena manager, Henry E. Hobson, last January listing 10 mandatory items the Athena needed to comply with city fire codes, including the fire alarm system. Tuesday morning a fire swept the 14th floor and two firemen subsequently died while looking for occupants. In the absence of a fire alarm, residents were awakened haphazardly by telephone calls, fire sirens on trucks or someone beating on apartment doors. Athena's board of directors, representing owners of 145 apartments, was scheduled to vote Jan. 6 to spend $10,600 to install an alarm system of high decible bells attached to heat and smoke detectors on each floor. "The board was warned six days ago that the building would be a coffin if it caught fire," said Paul Gittings, retired founder of Gittings-Neiman Marcus photography studio. Gittings is a director of Athena, where he has lived for four years on the fourth floor. Gittings and a advisory member of the board, Earl Lipscomb, said the chief's letter requiring fire protection changes had not been called to the board's attention until nine months after it was written. Now, almost a year later, nothing has been done, Gittings said, and residents were trapped on floors above the fire because they did not receive a warning. The building manager, Hobson, said Gittings and Lipscomb were not being objective in their criticism. "Dudley sent letters to 500 other buildings as well, listing mandatory fire protection items for them, and now these heretics are saying I'm derelict in my duties as manager," he protested. Hobson said there was nothing in the fire codes saying when the fire alarm had to be installed. Dudley, who is in charge of the city's high rise fire protection division overseeing 350 buildings, said an alarm system "would have helped" in the Tuesday fire, "but our fire code is real weak on fire alarms and making people install them." City Councilman Garry Weber, an Athena resident who accompanied firemen up the blazing floor, said, "It's unfortunate that they hadn't installed the fire alarms. "I'm going to look into this," Weber stated. "We need to make certain that everyone complies with the codes." Dudley said he was working with Athena management, which he said is being cooperative. "We just have to kinda give them their time. It's not something you can go out and demand that they do," Dudley said. "Our code's real weak. And this is a problem. We're working on a new fire code, which is in the city attorney's office now. But it will give us some teeth to work with," he said. "The Athena is a real good building; we have a lot in Dallas that are not in as good a shape." Hobson said he had complied with the other nine items on Dudley's mandatory list, "so we're not derelict at all. The only thing that was not met on that whole list was the manual fire alarm. And that's the tenth point to be approved Jan. 6. There's been no dereliction at all." DECEMBER 25, 1975 HURST Riley C., 933 Whitehall Drive, Plano, survived by wife, Mrs. Debora Ann Hurst, Plano; son, Riley Clemit Hurst, Jr., Plano; parents, Mr. And Mrs. Clemit D. Hurst, Richardson; grandparents, Mr. And Mrs. V. R. Godwin, Plano; sister, Mrs. Jack Alphin, Richardson; brother, James Roy Hurst, Richardson. Services 1 p.m. Friday, RESTLAND MEMORIAL CHAPEL, Rev. Jim Caton officiating. Interment Restland Memorial park. Pallbearers: Dallas Fire Department A Shift, T. J. Stephens, H. R. Havins, J. D. Whitcher, B. K. Kennedy, D. L. Morris, W. W. Monroe. Honorary pallbearers: J. A. Scott, O'Brien Goldsberry, D. L. Sides, J. P. Baxter, J. M. Zak. RESTLAND LAUREL LAND FUNERAL HOME Greenville Ave at Restland Rd, 238-7111 LACK Capt. Ralph Thomas, 1203 N. Masters, Dallas. Chapel service 10 a.m. Friday, Interment laurel Oaks ANDERSON CLAYTON BROS. Mesquite 285-5489 |
