Sometime around 07:30, a female employee working in the Edwin A. Bowen Candy Coating Company, located in the B. J. Saylor building, 401 Penn Street, went to light a gas plate. Once this was done, she left the fourth floor rear room and went back to work in the shop.
About ten minutes later, a male, employed as a meat cutter, discovered the rear room in flames and attempted to douse the blaze with a fire extinguisher. During his efforts, he found the heat and smoke becoming to much to bare and fled the building.
Meanwhile, a passerby on North 4th Street noticed smoke issuing from the top floor and informed Reading Police Officer James Young, who was directing traffic at 4th and Penn Streets. Young pulled the hook on Box 31, 4th and Penn Streets, at 07:55.
When Chief of the Department Harry J. Brown arrived on the scene, he found flames showing from the windows on the North 4th Street side.
Once the first alarm companies were in position, Brown went to Box 31 and, using the telegraph key found inside the Gamewell box, tapped out a second alarm. The additional call for help went public at 08:02.
Firefighters laddered windows on the North 4th Street. Once they entered the fourth floor, they found a large quantity of paper bags and wrapping paper fiercely burning.
Flames traveled southward and ignited the roof covering the three-story front portion of the building. Before long, fire was shooting from the ventilator and the cornice along the Penn Street side. Eventually, the roof weakened and a large portion gave way.
Chief Brown credited his firefighters for confining the fire to the fourth floor portion of the building, located near Court Street.
After more than two hours, Brown sounded an out tap. This was recorded at 10:25.
During the blaze, the Riversides were sent to Carpenter Steel to extinguish an oil fire in the industrial yard.
Several firemen were injured during the two alarm fire at B. J. Saylor's. They were: Charles R. Brubaker, 39 of the Hampdens, burned his face and arms; Paul Humphrey, 39 of the Keystones, lacerated his face and head; Thomas Heckman, 38 of the Rainbows, punctured his right hand; Llewellyn Reifsnyder, 29 of the Juniors, was treated for smoke inhalation; Paul Reifsnyder, 22 of the Juniors, lacerated his hand; Earl Oulds, 23 of the Liberties, lacerated his right thumb; Walter Lantz, 27 of the Juniors, lacerated his right hand; James Brown, 39 of the Juniors, lacerated his right hand; and Walter Gerlach, 32 of the Juniors, suffered cuts and burns to his right hand.
Chief Brown initially estimated the loss at $75,000. The loss was later shown to be aggregated to $39,000 in Brown's August report to the Firemen's Union. Incidentally, the report also showed the entire loss for the month of July was only $39,267, consisting of only four bells and nine still alarms. By December 1933, the loss was once again changed. The final loss was listed at $47,200.
Renovation work began on January 15, 1934, and took nearly three months to complete. From the time of the fire until the work was done, Saylor's operated from the former Hoff store room, located adjacent to B. J. Saylor's at 403 Penn.
Included in the renovations were two 12-foot display windows and a double set of doors on the Penn Street side; a continuous display window on the North 4th Street side; complete transformation of the first floor layout; a rest and reading room for employees on the second floor; and a storage area on the third.
On September 6, 1934, the store opened for the first time in over a year
Thanks to Historian Tony Miccicke for sending us these stories.
