Editor’s note: This is the second 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
Many hands made light work of setting up an outdoor tribute to three Fort Atkinson firefighters who lost their lives a century ago this Sunday.
At 2:30 p.m. Thursday, 22 firefighters gathered at the fire station, where Mike Reel explained plans to place a flagpole, two banners and three crosses at the site where, at 3:43 p.m. on Dec. 17, 1923, the city’s new American LaFrance triple-combination pumper struck a culvert along U.S. Highway 12 and crashed just west of Fort Atkinson, killing 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.
The crew was responding to a call for mutual aid for a house fire in Rockdale, near Cambridge. As the new $12,500 truck out on its first-ever call passed what today is Radloff Lane, the turnoff for Dorothy Carnes County Park, and traveled down a slightly curved hill, it struck a culvert wall and rolled end-over-end into a cornfield on the south side of the highway.
After Thursday afternoon’s briefing, the firefighters left the station at 3 p.m. to set up the tribute.
As lines of traffic passed, the volunteers — all wearing yellow high-visibility vests — placed a large banner both east and west of the location where the ill-fated firetruck came to rest in 1923. Each reads: “December 17, 1923, Fort Atkinson Fire Department, We Remember.”
Between them stand an American flag and three white crosses.
Among the bystanders watching the memorial setup were members of the media, including representatives of Fort Atkinson Online and several Madison television stations.
It only took 45 minutes for the work to be completed, and the firefighters held a minute of silence before heading back to the station.
Ironically, that took place around 3:43 p.m. … the exact time the crash occurred 99 years and 362 days ago.
The memorial, which is being lighted at night, will remain through Sunday, the actual 100th anniversary of the tragedy.
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 bench in Lorman-Bicentennial Park remembering Hoffman, Smith and Gross.
Fort Atkinson firefighter Mike Reel, standing, coordinates with fellow firefighters and volunteers Thursday afternoon before the group set out to create an outdoor memorial in honor of three firefighters who died in a firetruck crash Dec. 17, 1923.
Fort Atkinson firefighters unload banners to display at the memorial for firemen who died enroute to a Rockdale blaze Dec. 17, 1923.
Three crosses await placement in front of the American flag at the memorial to Frank E. Hoffman, 42; William Gross, 54, and Herman Smith, 59, all of whom were killed when their firetruck crashed enroute to a Rockdale fire a century ago.
Fort Atkinson firefighters set up the easternmost of two banners at the memorial site where three firefighters died on Dec. 17, 1923.
Three photos above: Fort Atkinson firefighters raise an American flag and place crosses at its base in remembrance of three firemen who died in a truck crash while heading toward a Rockdale blaze on Dec. 17, 1923. Corn stubble also was removed to carve out a memorial spot.
Fort Atkinson firefighters hold a minute of silence to remember the three firemen who died while traveling to a Rockdale blaze 100 years ago. The crew set up a memorial a few miles west of Fort Atkinson in tribute of the trio.
Chris Spangler photos for Fort Atkinson Online.
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