By Chris Spangler
Three Fort Atkinson firefighters who died in a truck crash while responding to a Rockdale blaze more than a century ago are being remembered on a Wisconsin monument.
This Saturday, the names of William Gross, Herman Smith and Frank Hoffman will be added to the Wisconsin Fire and EMS Memorial (WFEM) Wall in Wisconsin Rapids.
They are among eight firefighters being recognized Saturday by the WFEM, which salutes not only first responders who have given their lives as the ultimate sacrifice, but also those who have served, and continue to serve, their respective communities.
Also being added to the wall will be the names of former Lake Mills Fire Chief Todd Yandre, who died of an apparent heart attack at the end of his shift on Feb. 13, 2023, and firefighters from Stevens Point, Brookfield, Milwaukee and North Shore.
Located in the 7.5-acre Ben Hansen Park overlooking the Wisconsin River on the southwest side of Wisconsin Rapids, the Memorial Wall is flanked by a life-sized bronze statue depicting two firefighters coming to the the aid of a fallen crew member.
The wall consists of six black marble plates engraved with the names of approximately 350 Wisconsin firefighters who have died in the line of duty. South of the Memorial Wall is the Final Alarm Bell Tower with the bell that originally hung at the headquarters of the Superior Fire Department in 1892.
Saturday’s ceremony
Fort Atkinson will be well-represented at Saturday’s ceremony, which takes place at 3:33 p.m., the time signifying a firefighter’s last call of duty. The city’s Fire Chief Bruce Peterson and 14 local firefighters will be attending, as well as descendants of Hoffman.
The firefighters and two firetrucks will be leaving the station at 9 a.m. to travel to Wisconsin Rapids. Retired Fort Atkinson Fire Chief Mike Reel said that Peterson has made arrangements with neighboring fire departments so the Fort Atkinson fire station will not be short-staffed should an emergency arise.
Prior to the “final alarm ceremony” will be a brief tour of the grounds, an opportunity to make charcoal impressions of the names engraved on the wall and a light lunch for honorees’ families and fire department representatives. After the memorial observance, a meal for the families, firefighters, honor guard and ceremony participants will be served at the Wisconsin Rapids Fire Department. At 7 p.m., the visiting fire trucks, with lights flashing, will drive through Wisconsin Rapids in a silent procession.
WFEM Secretary Deb Trieloff said that the ceremony will include the posting of the colors and laying of wreaths by the honor guard, an invocation by the WFEM chaplain, the playing of “Amazing Grace” and “Taps” by the pipes and drums, the presentation of folded flags to the honorees’ families, a ceremonial flag folding, the reading of names added to the wall during the past decade and a bell ceremony.
Offering remarks will be Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin President Mahlon Mitchell of Madison, Wisconsin Rapids Fire Chief Todd Eckes and Wisconsin Rapids Mayor Matt Zacher.
The families and fire department guests will be escorted into and out of the ceremony, she noted.
Fort Atkinson Fire Department chief engineer Reel, who worked with motor pump operator Jim Slocum on gathering information about the fatal crash, said that Hoard Historical Museum Director Merilee Lee and Assistant Director Dana Bertelsen worked with Trieloff to assemble materials for a display about the three Fort Atkinson firefighters who lost their lives. Including photos and newspaper articles, it will be available for viewing in the Visitors’ Center on Saturday, and portions might remain on loan with the memorial park for up to a year.
Crash a century ago
The Fort Atkinson firefighters were responding to a house fire at the A.C. Tellefson home in Rockdale near Cambridge the afternoon of Dec. 17, 1923, when their truck struck a culvert wall and careened into a cornfield, killing the tree men and injuring three others.
This marked the first call to which the new truck was being driven. On Nov. 9, 1923, the weekly Jefferson County Union reported that the city’s new American LaFrance triple-combination pumper had arrived Wednesday, Oct. 31, at the Fort Atkinson Fire Department, then located on the northeast corner of North Main Street and East Sherman Avenue where a parking lot now stands. The $12,500 rescue vehicle was built in and transported by railroad from Elmira, N.Y., to the company’s service center in Chicago and then driven to Fort Atkinson.
The truck boasted a 750-gallons-per-minute pumper with a 40-gallon chemical tank, a 26-foot extension ladder, a 14-foot roof ladder, a deluge set, 300 feet of 2.5-inch hoses and a complete set of extras such as a siren, searchlight, bell and more.
The newspaper reported Dec. 21 that the truck left the station with five men — Gross, Smith, Adolph Uherr, Anthony Statz and Louis Reich — and then stopped briefly around the corner at the nearby Hoffman Lumber Co. (located at today’s site of Ace Hardware) to pick up Hoffman. With Gross at the wheel, the vehicle headed toward Rockdale, near Cambridge, on what today is U.S. Highway 12, but then was called in the newspaper the “Fort Atkinson-Cambridge concrete road.”
The truck had traveled 3-1/3 miles when, at 3:43 p.m., it struck a culvert end wall at the bottom of a slightly curved hill just past what today is Radloff Lane — the turnoff to Dorothy Carnes County Park — and catapulted end over end into a south side cornfield.
The newspaper stated that Uherr either jumped or fell from the truck before it struck the culvert and was lying on the concrete road when picked up by Stanley English, whose car had been following the truck at 55 mph. He reportedly heard, but did not see, the crash, which took place midway between what then were the Mooradian-Wisch and C.E. Ward farms. Today, the property is owned by Marsha Herr.
According to the Dec. 21 Union, Smith, 59, died at 8:15 p.m. Monday from a crushed pelvis and internal injuries. His funeral was Thursday at 2:30 p.m. at the Congregational Church following a visitation at his Edward Street home. He also was laid to rest in Evergreen Cemetery.
Hoffman, 42, sustained a crushed head and chest. He died at 9:15 p.m. Monday. Hoffman’s funeral was held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at his East Sherman Avenue residence. He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Gross, who suffered a crushed chest, punctured lungs and internal injuries, lived several days. He died Thursday, Dec. 20, and his funeral was held Sunday, Dec. 23, with 187 firemen from 16 communities attending.
As for the injured firefighters, Uherr sustained a fractured skull and lacerations, Statz suffered a skull fracture and Reich had a broken left leg and several bruises. All were listed in favorable condition by Dr. Peter Majerus in the Dec. 21 Union.
Firetruck’s fate
According to the Dec. 21, 1923, Jefferson County Union, the damaged firetruck was brought back to Fort Atkinson from the crash site on Tuesday, Dec. 18.
The next day, a representative of the American LaFrance Company examined the damaged firetruck and the Union wrote Dec. 21 that “he found the pumper itself undamaged and the motor only slightly damaged.”
He estimated the cost to repair the vehicle at $5,000 by retaining the pumper and motor. It would be shipped via train to Elmira, N.Y.
The March 7, 1924, issue of the Union reported that the new American LaFrance firetruck would be shipped sometime next month. It was to be driven from the company’s Chicago hub to Fort Atkinson.
Its first call was to a barn fire on Walton Street Monday, Sept. 21, 1924.
““The fire whistle brought 31 of the 48 firemen to the scene of the conflagration in less than 15 minutes,” the Sept. 26, 1924, Union reported. “The new American LaFrance was put to work for the first time at a fire and worked to a T.”
Time for honor
It was the tragedy’s 100th anniversary observance last December that prompted the WFEM to add Hoffman, Gross and Smith’s names to the memorial wall.
Trieloff, who resides in Cambridge, said she drove past the display at the crash site, as well as saw media coverage of it.
Of adding the victims’ names to the memorial wall, she said: “I had seen this on the news and I did not remember hearing about the crash before. I think this is the year we do it.”
She brought her idea before the WFEM Board of Directors, of which she is a member, and it was approved.
Trieloff said there have been multiple firefighter deaths in the state through the years, as well as the listing of firefighters who died many years prior.
However, she said, noting the passage of time since the firefighters died, “This is the first in some time that it’s been 100 years.”
She noted that the names listed on the memorial wall are those of active-duty deaths only. However, the WFEM honor guard participates in the funerals of retiree, active-duty and line-of-duty deaths.
Two photos above: Photos and newspaper stories are among items recently assembled into a display. The work was done by Hoard Historical Museum Director Merilee Lee, Assistant Director Dana Bertelsen, and Wisconsin Fire and EMS Memorial Secretary Deb Trieloff in honor of three Fort Atkinson firefighters who lost their lives in December of 2023, when their truck crashed into a culvert while responding to an area fire. The display will be available for viewing this Saturday at the Wisconsin Fire and EMS Memorial Visitor’s Center in Wisconsin Rapids as part of a ceremony honoring Fort’s lost firefighters, among others in Wisconsin, who died in the line of duty. Photos curtesy of Fort Atkinson Fire Chief Bruce Peterson.
The front page from the then-weekly newspaper the “Jefferson County Union,” as supplied by Fort Atkinson city officials, offers information about the three men who were killed following a firetruck crash on Dec. 17, 1923. The three men were: Frank E. Hoffman, 42, who was the secretary and treasurer of the Hoffman Lumber Company, located in 1923 where Ace Hardware now stands. He was co-owner with his brother, Harry; Herman Wesly (sic) Smith, 59, who was a local blacksmith known as “Herm” and “a highly respected citizen and businessman,” and William Merit “Bill” Gross, 54, of 217 Edward St., who was employed for a number of years by the Northwestern Manufacturing Co. and Creamery Package Co. An earlier story about the events surrounding the firefighters’ deaths is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/obituaries-salute-firemen-killed-in-1923-crash/. The story is the third in a series of six written about the crash in 1923. Place the words “Firetruck Crash of 1923” in the search box at the bottom of this page to find the full series.
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