Heavy Loss Of Life In Tragic Fire At Hospital

Chronicle (Levin), 6 April 1949, Page 5

Heavy Loss Of Life In Tragic Fire At Hospital

Received Tuesday, 11.50 p.m. NEW YORK, April 4. A fire which destros'ed St. Anthony Hospital in Effingnam, Illinois, tonight caused heavy loss of life. Three priests . stationed at the hospital estimated that i 50 to 60 persons perished. ' The police reported that there were more than 100 patients in the hospital when the fire hroke out and it was hard to say how many escaped from the four storey building which was reduced to a mass of ruins within an hour. A number of patients who jumped from windows were badly injured. The fire is helieved to have started in the coal chute, flames rushing up Vhe j elevator shaft quickly enveloping the | entire building. ! One of the first sections engulfed was the nursery. Reports conflict on the number of babies there. fire departments from six nearby communities and the police from fourteen coimties, rushed to the scene. a number of patients are reported to have been carried out hy nearby residents who rushed into the burning building.

•the set up a first aid station n. a nearhy garage. firemeri were unable to search tmruins deca-uss of the intense heat anu falling debris. Sorne relatives oi patients frantically searched for kinsfolk. One man who helped catch a dozen persons who leaped from windows, said: "It was horrioie to heai the folk in there shrieking for help ana not being abie to get to them. ' ' The hospital was located in the residential disfcrict of the town which has a population of 8000. The police chief in Efiington estimated the dead at 30 to 60. A hospital attendant thought 50 perished including 20 children. All the occupanfcs of the nursery and maternity wards perished except three women who leaped from windows. As all the walls and roof collapsed into the basement, it will be a long time before it can be discovered how many boclies are underneath the ruins. A witness at the fire said the firemen were hampered by a low water pressure and that there was a 15 minutes delay in getting streams of water on the building.