The stillness of the early morning came to an abrupt end as Box 4, 8th and Penn streets, began to toll its Gamewell location. The 03:12 alarm was rung for a fire at the Hershey Caramel Company, 802 Penn street.
Heavy fire was already shooting from the confectionery manufactory when Chief of the Fire Department George W. Miller arrived on the scene. Without a moments hesitation, he walk over to the telegraph fire alarm box and sounded an immediately second alarm.
Flames rapidly spread from the original fire building to the second floor of the Bard, Reber & Co. Hardware, 800 Penn street. Fire then ran the length of the structure along South 8th street to Cherry.
As the steamers and chemical engines began to arrive on the scene, the firefighters prepared to attack the growing inferno. Chief Miller ordered seven hose streams to be placed in service along South 8th street. In addition, nearly a dozen more hand lines began to play on the burning buildings from the Penn and Cherry street sides.
Within the hour, the second and third floors of the buildings began showing heavy fire.
Not wanting to take any chances with the live electrical lines that serviced the Hershey and Bard buildings, Chief Miller requested workers from Metropolitan Edison cut power to the entire area. In order to do this, the Met-Ed representative cut the circuit to Penn street. This left all the homes and businesses surrounding Penn street, from Front street to 11th street, without power.
Loud reports were heard coming from inside the Hershey structure. It was believed large barrels of cotton seed oil used in the manufacturing of candy was the cause of the explosions. The men eventually began to beat the flames back and proceeded to enter the buildings to fully contain the fire.
Several flare ups occurred throughout most of the morning. The small fires were handled by the Friendships chemical engine, which remained on location as a fire watch. Eventually, the men from the Friendships began to tire and returned their apparatus to its home. In order to combat any more flare ups that may occur, they left a hose attached to a hydrant for anyone assigned fire watch to utilize. These flare ups continued for the next two days. On April 7, more than twenty-four hours after the original blaze, the rear wall of 802 Cherry street collapsed into the street.
An investigation into the fire revealed a large electrical apparatus had malfunctioned, causing sparks to ignite the oil soaked floors and other discarded materials nearby.
During the height of the fire, John George Niethammer, a member of the Rainbows and future chief of the department, opened his 13 North 8th street cafe to the firefighters. He distributed nearly twenty-five gallons of coffee and some six-hundred sandwiches to the beaten and exhausted men before the night was over.
Keystone member George Humphrey was overcome on the third floor of 800 Penn street. Fortunately, he was found by fellow Keystone members. The unconscious Humphrey was carried down a ladder to safety. Once he regained consciousness, he was taken to his 2nd and Washington street home where he recovered. Wesley Strause, another Keystone member, suffered a deep gash on his leg when he was snagged by a hook in the ladder while he was descending. A third Keystone member, William L. Fox, was also injured when the second floor of 800 Penn street came down on top of him. He was pulled from beneath the rubble by fellow Keystone member William B. Thompson and taken to an area hospital for treatment.
The Hershey Caramel Company, 802 Penn street, listed a loss of $60,000. The first floor of 802 Penn street was occupied by the M. Blondheim's Clothing. They listed their loss at $6,000. Adam Bard and James T. Reber's Hardware Store, 800 Penn street, incurred fire damage that climbed to nearly $165,000. The third floor of 800 Penn street was utilized by The Knights of Friendship Hall. Their loss came to roughly $1,800. 804 Penn street belonged to J. H. Stein. He reported smoke and water damaged his building to the tune of $3,000. The total loss for all the businesses was first estimated to be $252,000, but that was later aggregated by insurance companies to $90,590.
The structures mentioned above were erected only a few years before this fire by Milton Hershey. Previously, this site was the home of Groff's Tropical Garden. Hershey sold his caramel interests in 1900 to concentrate on his growing chocolate business.
Thanks to Historian Tony Miccicke for sending us these stories.
Several views of Penn Street from different years, including the 1890s as depicted in the story, are shown on the Historical Society of Berks County's Website.
A Steamer from this period was housed briefly at the Reading Area Fire Fighters Museum. Reading is trying to preserve it's firefighting history, visit our Fire Museum section for more information.
