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Lewistown's Fame fire engine on the Belleville bridge - just in time to save the Eagle Hotel's foundation. (Author's collection)
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Belleville's Big Blaze
It is interesting to note that before Belleville had its fire department,
it became customary for the KV
locomotive on duty to serve as a local "fire truck."
This was a highly inefficient method of putting out fires, as documented during
Belleville's Big Blaze of 1902.
On Monday afternoon, August 4, a fire originated in a shed behind the Eagle Hotel's
stable. A bucket brigade was started but soon became useless as sparks fell on
surrounding houses and the fire spread. A call went in to Lewistown's Fame
Fire Department for assistance, and an engine and hose truck was taken to the
borough station. After a flatcar was located, the fire equipment was hastily loaded
and a PRR train was run to Reedsville,
where a KV train was waiting
to pick it up.
"Sike" Staley was the engineer that day and had the throttle wide open, making the
nine-mile (14.5 kilometers) trip over the KV
in just 17 minutes. The experience was said to have been
"wild and woolly." But not nearly as exciting as what happened when the train
reached Belleville. The Democrat & Sentinel reported:
"Indeed when the KV
engine got her blood up it ran so fast it could not he stopped
when the stopping place was reached, but it ran clear into a small building at the
terminus as if it was determined to do its duty by hauling the fire engine clear
to the point on the creek where it could go to work at once without unloading."
Rumors contend that Sike may have been nipping on the bottle when he drove into
Spangler's Drug Store. Regardless, the fire engine was unloaded and taken to the
bridge in town only to find that the suction pipe was too short and couldn't reach
the creek below. Meanwhile the fire burned itself out, destroying Brindle's Eagle
Hotel, stable and outbuildings, the Post Office, Belleville Bank and several houses.
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