Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories which will be published on Fort Atkinson Online documenting the fatal firetruck crash of Dec. 17, 1923, which was described by the then-“Jefferson County Union” as the “worst tragedy in the city’s history.”
By Chris Spangler
The Fort Atkinson Fire Department is saluting the memory of three firefighters who died in a truck crash while enroute to a Rockdale blaze one century ago.
It was at 3:43 p.m. on Dec. 17, 1923, when the city’s new American LaFrance triple-combination pumper struck a culvert along U.S. Highway 12 just west of Fort Atkinson, claiming the lives of three firefighters and injuring three others.
The dead included Frank E. Hoffman, 42; William Gross, 54, and Herman Smith, 59. Injured were Anthony Statz, Adolph Uherr and Louis Reich.
With the crash’s 100th anniversary approaching Sunday, Dec. 17, current firefighters Mike Reel and Jim Slocum researched what, four days later, the Jefferson County Union reported as the “worst tragedy” in the city’s history.
According to the Nov. 9, 1923, issue of the then-weekly newspaper, the $12,500 truck had arrived not even two months earlier, on Oct. 31, 1923. During its first major call to a Rockdale house fire, the pumper reportedly struck a culvert wall and rolled end-over-end into a cornfield on the south side of the highway.
How the crash happened, the victims’ backgrounds and other related memories will be shared in upcoming stories on Fort Atkinson Online.
Meanwhile, Reel, Slocum and their fellow full-time and paid-on-call firefighters are asking the public to take a moment to join them in remembering the fallen.
On Thursday, the fire department planned to park firetrucks at the crash site south of U.S. Highway 12, located at the bottom of the curved hill just past the Radloff Lane turnoff to Dorothy Carnes County Park.
They also were to set up an LED-lit sign paying respect to Hoffman, Gross and Smith that is on display around the clock through Sunday, the actual 100th anniversary of the crash.
Meanwhile, all day on Sunday, a large American flag will be suspended from the aerial truck at the fire station, 124 W. Milwaukee Ave.
Also, an informal laying of a flower spray will be held at the black marble monument and bench in Lorman-Bicentennial Park. Overlooking the Rock River, it salutes the three firefighters and is just to the west of the monument for police Officer David McKee, who died April 8, 1968, while trying to rescue a drowning teen-age boy.
“Countless hours have been spent by Jim and myself researching (the crash), but it was an honor to remember and to put a timeline to the history while (giving) a personal touch to the firemen and families that lost so much,” Reel said.
“… We have learned so much more than before about the particular service that the 1923 American LaFrance pumper truck (provided) the city and its community well beyond its time,” he added. “It is a privilege to tell everyone here the same. ‘Never forget.’”which
A granite memorial marker in Lorman-Bicentennial Park in Fort Atkinson is placed in memory of local law enforcement and first responders who have paid the ultimate sacrifice while on the job. Chris Spangler photo.
Josh Crandall of the Fort Atkinson Parks and Recreation Department points to a bench, located to the right of the monument, which is inscribed with the names of three firefighters killed in a truck crash while enroute to a Rockdale blaze on Dec. 17, 1923.
Photo courtesy of Mike Reel.
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