A Close Call at the Teachout Residence
When smoke began to fill the bedroom walls, a quick-thinking resident saved her home from total ruin.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
What might have proven to be a most destructive fire occurred Monday about noon at the C. S. Teachout residence in town. Mrs. Teachout, when about to leave the house to sit up with a sick friend, discovered smoke in the bedroom and on tracing the smoke found that the fire was well underway between the walls of the room. Mrs. Teachout immediately smashed a hole in the wall through the laths and plaster and threw some water on the blaze, after which she telephoned for help. A large crowd of volunteer firemen hurried to the scene and after smashing away still more of the wall and using plenty of water, the fire was soon controlled and put out. Mrs. Teachout says that there is no doubt in her mind that if she had gone away without discovering the fire the house would have been a total ruin. The residence is one of the finest in Richland, owned by Mr. Martin Wienenga.
“Mrs. Teachout says that there is no doubt in her mind that if she had gone away without discovering the fire the house would have been a total ruin.”
Residential fire safety remains a perpetual concern in semi-rural areas like Richland. This story highlights the reliance on neighborhood volunteerism and individual agency in an era before professionalized fire departments were universal in small towns.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.