The Decker & Styer Building Fire, 1938 Selinsgrove

On February 15th 1938, a furnace exploded in the Decker & Styers buildings, located at the corner of Market and Walnut Street in Selinsgrove.  

Fourteen families were driven from their homes.  The two apartment buildings were among the most densely populated structures in Selinsgrove, with four families living in the Decker building, and eight in the Styers building.

Several jumped from third floor windows, when flames cut off the fire escapes.  Two were killed - one from her injuries after jumping, another trapped in the blaze.

The fire consumed the Decker and Styers buildings, destroying a furniture manufacturing plant &  six business establishments well as the homes of 14 families in the apartments.  

Mr & Mrs. Charles Helwig had just moved to Selinsgrove four months prior. Charles worked at the .Miller furniture store, across the street from their apartment.

Mrs. Helwig was awoken by the explosion, and she quickly shook her husband awake as well.  Running to the front window, looking out on Market Street, he realized they needed to get out quickly.  They gathered a few items, and ran to the rear porch to access the fire escape, but the porch was burning.  Mrs. Helwig opened the door to the hall, but fire leapt in through the opening.  Charles then ran to the side window (walnut street side), opened it, and screamed, to alert others.

He  then tied a blanket and sheet together, the two together almost reaching the pavement.  Mrs. Helwig went over first, but she let go of the material.  Charles jumped next, and that is the last he remembers.  

Charles fractured both arms, severely injured his back, and had cuts on his chin and face.Mrs Helwig was taken by ambulance to the Mary Packer hospital in Sunbury, where she died from her injuries.

Mr & Mrs Howard Rhoads lived across the hall from the Helwigs. When they heard the explosion, and breaking glass, he at first thought a car had run into one of the big windows on the first floor.   They too found that all routes of escape were cut off, other than the windows.  Mrs Rhoads said: "We jumped from bed and ran to the window, and I saw flames shooting out of Tony's shoe repair shop, the glass broken.  We ran to the door of our apartment and found the hall and stairs one mass of flames.  I never knew fire could spread so quickly."

Mr. & Mrs. Victor Aucker resided on the second floor of the Decker building.  Victor lifted his wife through the window, leaned out as far as he could, and dropper her to the pavement.  He then jumped out behind her.  

92 year old Nancy Rorhbach perished in the blaze.

The fire in the adjacent Styers building appeared to spread less rapidly than it did in the Decker building.  Mirian Ulrich, who lived on the second floor of the building, was credited with alarming every person who resided there.  All of the residents were able to exit through the halls and stairs.

H.A. Loser, manager of Millers Furniture store across from the fire, arrived shortly after the explosion, and opened the first floor of the store to those who had escaped the blaze.  "Badly shocked by their experience, the tenants found warmth at the store, and hot coffee was made and served to them and the firemen fighting the blaze."

Firemen raised ladders against walls that would soon collapse, saving at least two lives, and streaming water from a vantage point that helped keep the fire from spreading.  Mrs Emily Lutz, night operator at the telephone company, stayed at her post throughout the fire, as sparks fell on the roof of the building.  She put through the many calls summoning help from other fire companies.  

The newly remodeled Decker Henderson building in 1922, with Weis Pure Foods Grocery on the first floor.

Firemen from Sunbury, Lewisburg and New Berlin battled for 5 hours, along side of the Selinsgrove firemen, "in the face of a stubborn wind, which froze water on the clothes of the fire fighters." 

Water freezing underfoot made the firemen's job more hazardous as well. A crew of Selinsgrove firemen scaled the first national bank building to stream water from that vantage point onto the Styers building.

Neighbors on Water street were awakened by the explosion, which rattled windows in homes on that street.  Because of the bright full moon, there was no reflection of the blaze in the sky, and those at a distance did not see any signs of the fire.  Still, word spread quickly, and a crowd of several thousand congregated at the scene.

Four hours after the neighboring firefighters left the scene, the Dauntless Hook and Ladder Company returned to spray water on flames which broke back out from the ruins.

A 1932 Photo, 5 years before the fire,  showing the Styer & Hendricks buildings on the far right.  First National Bank is in the middle, with the post office and W.N. Bulick store on the far left

All of the properties from the First National Bank building on Market Street, South to Walnut Street, across from the new post office,  "lay in a charred mass."  
The fire was caused by the furnace running dry, and exploding.
The businesses destroyed included:
Noel Shambach's Radio and Electric Shop
Guy Hummels Central Cigar Store 
Tony Verona's Shoe Repair Shop
Betty Ruth's Specialty Shop
Tony B. Rhine's Florist Shop
Betty Ruth's Ladies Specialty Shop

The Same area in 1948

A furniture store, and a gas station, replaced the Styers and Decker-Hendricks Buildings

Refer to the very first photo in this post, and you will see the First National Bank, also shown in this photo, that the firemen stood on to fight the fire.

This 1952 photo, using the bank again as a reference point, shows the Burns Furniture store.  In 1938 there was Millers Furniture store in this building.  It's the building  tenants escaped to during the fire.

This gas station was built in 1941, on the spot where the Decker-Hendricks building once stood.  Much later this building was remodeled and housed OIP.

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