Post by admin on Apr 18, 2008 4:46:35 GMT -5
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FREEHOLD — A monument is to be erected this week honoring the borough firefighters whose service led to their deaths.
"We don't want the public to forget" firefighters fallen in the line of duty, said Carl N. Steinberg, a local firefighter and businessman who is the co-chairman of the committee to install the monument.
The monument will honor the men killed as a result of a 1933 fire, the only fatalities the borough Fire Department has suffered in its 136-year history.
The monument will be placed on a vacant area next to an access road connecting Mechanic Street and the Market Yard parking lot, not far from the County Clerk's Office.
The location was chosen because 75 years ago, Polchak's Woman's Coat Factory stood on that very spot.
On Aug. 2, 1933, a worker at the factory had just put five gallons of gasoline into a pressing machine when a gust of wind caught a flame he was using to light a line on the machine, according to a borough fire department history. The flame ignited dust and oil on the floor.
As fireman approached the side of the building, the gasoline exploded. Firefighters stumbled backward toward Mechanic Street, where their fellow firemen threw them to the ground and beat their clothes, according to the history.
Thirteen firemen were injured.
Of the men hurt that day, three later succumbed to their injuries: brothers Leroy and Lester Van Schoick, who both died on Aug. 9, 1933; and Joseph Storey, who died two days later. The men were 27, 33 and 35, respectively.
Lester Van Schoick and Storey both left a wife, and a total of seven children, ages 1 to 12. Leroy Van Schoick left behind a fiancee.
Those three men are honored on a small plaque at the monument site.
Steinberg hopes to list on the monument two additional firemen who suffered heart attacks after fighting the Polchak fire. He believes the attacks were brought on by the stress of taming the blaze.
Steinberg and the other members of the monument committee are waiting for the Fire Department to approve their inclusion on the memorial.
The firefighters who were injured in the fire but survived were George Kelder, Joseph Dugan, Clarence Briggs, Albert Patten, William Rhodes, Jack Felton, Oliver Kehs, William S. Palmer, Walter S. Briggs and James Ryan. A spectator who was injured in the fire, A. Harry Hulse, later became a firefighter.
As of press time, the fire monument was to be installed during the week of April 14.
Including its base, the borough's monument will stand 44 inches tall and 22 inches across. A firefighter's helmet will be placed on top, according to sketches.
The monument is modeled after a memorial in Long Branch, Steinberg said. The memorial, called Firemen's Field, is at Overlook and Woodgate avenues.
A dedication ceremony for the new monument is planned for Aug. 2, the 75th anniversary of the deadly fire.
Descendants of the men killed have been invited, Steinberg said.
"People sometimes lose sight of what (volunteer) firefighters do," said Steinberg, who has volunteered for the borough fire department for more than 20 years and now serves with the fire police. "We don't forget our fallen comrades. We don't want the public to forget."
Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@app.com
This report contains information from a previous Asbury Park Press report.
FREEHOLD — A monument is to be erected this week honoring the borough firefighters whose service led to their deaths.
"We don't want the public to forget" firefighters fallen in the line of duty, said Carl N. Steinberg, a local firefighter and businessman who is the co-chairman of the committee to install the monument.
The monument will honor the men killed as a result of a 1933 fire, the only fatalities the borough Fire Department has suffered in its 136-year history.
The monument will be placed on a vacant area next to an access road connecting Mechanic Street and the Market Yard parking lot, not far from the County Clerk's Office.
The location was chosen because 75 years ago, Polchak's Woman's Coat Factory stood on that very spot.
On Aug. 2, 1933, a worker at the factory had just put five gallons of gasoline into a pressing machine when a gust of wind caught a flame he was using to light a line on the machine, according to a borough fire department history. The flame ignited dust and oil on the floor.
As fireman approached the side of the building, the gasoline exploded. Firefighters stumbled backward toward Mechanic Street, where their fellow firemen threw them to the ground and beat their clothes, according to the history.
Thirteen firemen were injured.
Of the men hurt that day, three later succumbed to their injuries: brothers Leroy and Lester Van Schoick, who both died on Aug. 9, 1933; and Joseph Storey, who died two days later. The men were 27, 33 and 35, respectively.
Lester Van Schoick and Storey both left a wife, and a total of seven children, ages 1 to 12. Leroy Van Schoick left behind a fiancee.
Those three men are honored on a small plaque at the monument site.
Steinberg hopes to list on the monument two additional firemen who suffered heart attacks after fighting the Polchak fire. He believes the attacks were brought on by the stress of taming the blaze.
Steinberg and the other members of the monument committee are waiting for the Fire Department to approve their inclusion on the memorial.
The firefighters who were injured in the fire but survived were George Kelder, Joseph Dugan, Clarence Briggs, Albert Patten, William Rhodes, Jack Felton, Oliver Kehs, William S. Palmer, Walter S. Briggs and James Ryan. A spectator who was injured in the fire, A. Harry Hulse, later became a firefighter.
As of press time, the fire monument was to be installed during the week of April 14.
Including its base, the borough's monument will stand 44 inches tall and 22 inches across. A firefighter's helmet will be placed on top, according to sketches.
The monument is modeled after a memorial in Long Branch, Steinberg said. The memorial, called Firemen's Field, is at Overlook and Woodgate avenues.
A dedication ceremony for the new monument is planned for Aug. 2, the 75th anniversary of the deadly fire.
Descendants of the men killed have been invited, Steinberg said.
"People sometimes lose sight of what (volunteer) firefighters do," said Steinberg, who has volunteered for the borough fire department for more than 20 years and now serves with the fire police. "We don't forget our fallen comrades. We don't want the public to forget."
Kim Predham: (732) 308-7752 or kpredham@app.com
This report contains information from a previous Asbury Park Press report.