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DALLAS, TEXAS, TUESDAY, MAY 15, 1945 2 FIREMEN KILLED, 7 PERSONS INJURED IN EQUIPMENT COLLISION ON WAY TO FIRE A collision between two speeding pieces of fire equipment at Harwood and Corinth, which sent both vehicles crashing into a near-by barbecue stand, cost the lives of two firemen and resulted in the injury of seven persons at 7:30 p.m. Monday. Dead are Jack Edward Sullivan, 34, of 2516 Pine, driver of District Chief F. E. McCarthy's car, and Amil Hahnl, 49, driver of a pumper from Fire Station No. 12, 2300 South Ervay. Both were killed instantly. Critically injured was Chief McCarthy, 48, of 6932 Clayton, riding in the car with Sullivan. He was taken to St. Paul Hospital, where attendants said he suffered head and internal injuries. Visitor Hurt. Seriously hurt were L. G. Ruppe, 33, of 4317 Colonial, and John Dees, 33, of 3532 ½ Dixon, a fireman on the truck. Both were taken to Parkland Hospital, where attendants said Ruppe sustained a compound fracture of the left leg and Dees a possible broken back. Ruppe, Accident Investigator C. L. Brown said, recently was discharged from the Army for wounds received in France. He was visiting friends at the Ervay street fire station and decided to make the run with them when the call came in, although he was not a fireman. Others injured were R. H. Robbins, 70, of 1805 South Ervay, a customer in the café, leg injury and bruises about the face; Leo Fox, 38, of 636 ½ West Neely, a fireman on the truck; H. L. Mayfield, 39, 6805 Clayton, a fireman on the truck, bruised forehead and arms; and Mrs. Leheila Stinson, 41, wife of Jesse Stinson, owner of the café, minor cuts and bruises. Accident Blamed on Sirens. All except Mrs. Stinson were taken to Parkland Hospital where they were treated and released. Mrs. Stinson was released after treatment at St. Paul's Hospital. At the time of the accident the two vehicles were en route to a fire at the Continental Battery Company, 1914 South Pearl, which was extinguished quickly by other firemen who reached the scene. Damage, fire department officials said, was minor. Fletcher Webb, a hoseman on the fire truck, blamed the accident on the sirens. He was not hurt. "Our siren was going full blast," he said, "which prevented our hearing the siren of Chief McCarthy's car. And because of his siren, his driver was most likely unable to hear our siren." An eyewitness to the accident, Grady E. Smith, 2107 South Harwood, who was standing at a service station across the street from the wrecked café said both vehicles had their sirens going full blast. The car, southbound, was going approximately forty miles an hour while the eastbound truck was making about thirty miles an hour, he said. After the collision the two vehicles separated, the truck crashing through the west wall of Jesse's Barbecue Stand and the automobile plowing through the south wall. The car was almost demolished. Truck Plunges into Building. The truck almost knocked down the wall it hit and plunged several feet into the building. Only its rear end remained out. The nose of the McCarthy car went through the galvanized iron of the south wall as if it were paper. Smith said two of the firemen riding on the truck's rear platform were hurled about ten feet into the air. "One of them landed on the top of the district chief's car but was hurled to the ground some thirty five feet away when the car rammed into the building." Although there were six persons in the café at the time of the accident, all but Mrs. Stinson and Robbins, a night watchman, escaped injury. Heard Tremendous Crash. Both these victims were knocked under the fire truck. They were extricated by Mrs. Stinson's husband who said he believed she escaped death or serious injury only because Robbins fell on top of her. Stinson, who said he was standing near the bar, located toward the rear of the café, said he heard a tremendous crash and saw the front wall of his café bow in and the truck's nose crash through. "I ran to the south," he related, "but at that moment the nose of the automobile plowed through the wall and knocked me back toward the center of the room." Stinson escaped injury. Stinson said that in an effort to escape the plunging truck he ran to his left toward the building's south wall. At that moment, he related, the nose of the automobile plowed through the wall and knocked him to the center of the room. He was not injured. Eight Ambulances Respond. Eight ambulances and more than a dozen pieces of police and fire equipment, including three squad cars, two detectives, two accident investigators and the fire chief, were dispatched to the scene, Police Inspector Dal Loe said. Ambulances sent to the accident included four from the Oneal Funeral Home, two from the Buckalew Home, one from McKamy-Campbell and the city ambulance, Loe said. Police Capt. Flay Nelson, head of the traffic division, who is in charge of all accident investigations, was called to the scene from a lodge meeting. Accident Investigators Brown and Bill Burch, who made most of the investigation at the scene, described the accident as the most destructive traffic crash since the collision of a streetcar and a heavily loaded six wheel truck, in Oak Cliff almost a year ago. Fire Chief C. N. Penn and First Asst. Chief J. W. Owens were called to the scene and took personal charge of the fire department's investigation. Both agreed with Webb's opinion that the accident was caused by the fact the driver of each vehicle was unable to hear the siren on the other piece of equipment. Traffic Toll Reaches 32. In another fire department accident last December, Fireman E. L. Hulen was killed on the Fort Worth Cutoff at Edgefield when the rescue car he was driving on an emergency call sideswiped another car and crashed into a pole. The death of the two fireman brings the traffic toll in Dallas County to thirty two for the year. Thirteen of the deaths have been in the city, nineteen in the county outside the city limits, and one in University Park. Immediately after the seriousness of the accident became apparent, City Manager V. E. Smitham and Parkland Supt. Russell W. Nye were notified. Together they alerted all the hospital's doctors and nurses. Traffic was blocked on both Harwood and Corinth for nearly two hours before the wreckage was cleared. A special heavy wrecker, with the aid of an extra block and tackle, pulled the truck from the café. Investigators and rescue workers were hampered seriously be throngs of spectators who crowed into the street. Later the area was roped off. Gasoline Adds to Danger. Gasoline from the truck covered the floor and police and firemen were constantly forced to warn bystanders against lighting matches and smoking cigarettes. Accident Investigator Brown said witnesses told him Hahnl, driver of the pumper truck, slowed down a moment before the accident, then started across Harwood, crashing into the driver's side of the chief's car. McCarthy and Sullivan made their run from the fire station at Forest and Central. L. E. Tischmacher, 3214 South Boulevard, near by when the accident occurred, said the crash sounded like a cyclone and was almost deafening. Police officials at the accident praised W. H. Hill, driver of the Oneal ambulance, for the speedy and efficient manner in which he splinted Rupe's badly mangled leg before removing him to Parkland. Sullivan, whose body was taken to the Oneal Funeral Home, is survived by his wife, a daughter, Jackie Sullivan, and his parents, Mr. And Mrs. J. F. Sullivan of Dallas. Hahnl's body was taken by the McKamy-Campbell Funeral Home. |