Smyrna times., 1941-09-18
FIREMEN FIGHT
4FIRESIN 5DAYS
Fretz Market, Old Ennis Gar
age Wrecked by Blaze;
Tenant House, Grass Fire
S16,50O TOTAL LOSS

falling SIG, 800 loss, kept the Smyr-
ma and Clayton firemen busy last
week, and caused considerable ex-
citement here. Fire destroyed the
store and entire stock of the Fretz
Market on the Smyrna-Clayton
road at $3.50 a. m. Thursday. Smyr-
ma and Clayton firemen worked for
four hours before bringing the
blaze under control. The row of
houses known as Thornley's Row
was threatened but the work of
the firemen prevented the spread
of the fire. Mrs. Fretz, wife of the
owner, who lives in an adjoining
house, was awakened by cracking
glass. The fire had made such
headway that they were unable to
enter the store. 1t had apparent
ly started by the front door, near
the cash register, and $50 or $50
in bills were recovered for redemp-
ton.
Heat Very Intense
The heat was so intense that
nickels and dimes in cigarette
machine were melted. A truck
load of stock had been received and
placed on the shelves Wednesday
night. The loss is estimated by
firemen as $4,000. Mr.. Fretz said
that the damage is covered by in
surance. The store building was
85x24 feet, frame with tin roof and
the firemen report that this pre-
vented the spread of fire to nearby
houses and the satisfactory owned
by Charles Thornley,. The blaze
was spectacular due to explosions
of bottles and cans and drew many
hundreds of on-lookers.
Fire Wrecks Garage
Fire of undetermined origin late
Friday afternoon destroyed the
Harry Ennis garage at Main and
North Streets. Hampered by dense
clouds of black smoke, Smyrna fire.
men worked against time to pre-
vent the spread of the fire to ad-
jacent buildings, rendered espec-
tally infiammable by the long
drought and succeeded in confining
the flames to the interior of the
garage, the front of which was oc-
cupied by the Boyer pool room.
Oil Smoke Dense
The rear portion of the building,
permeated by oil through years of
use as one of the towns Oldest
garages, burned with especially
great intensity and sent pail of
smoke over most of the commun-
ity. Several school buses owned
by Mr.. Ennis and usually stored in
the building were out on their
daily after-school routes. At the
height of the blaze someone Gum
known to the local firemen) sum-
moned the Dover Fire Company
without official sanction. The Do
yer firemen arrived just as the fire
was brought under control. Losses
are partly covered by insurance, it
is stated.
Fire at Tenant House
Damage, estimated at more than
$500 was caused by fire Satur-
day to a tenant house on the farm
of Cove Slaughter, on the Smyrna
Leipsic road. Smyrna firemen, as
sisted by volunteers from Clayton,
extinguished the blaze, caused by
an over-heated oil stove. On the
way to the fire, a car driven by
William Mitchell and containing
three other men, collided with the
machine of William Gardner, who
with Mrs. Gardner, was on his way
to Smyrna. In trying to avoid a
boy on a bicyclel, Mitchells car
crashed into that of Gardner, caus-
ing damage estimated at $100 and
severely shaking up the couple. AT
the Office of Magistrate Frazier in
Smyrna, Mitchell was fined $40
and costs on charge of reckless
driving. Mr.. and Mrs. Gardner
were treated for head cuts, bruises
and shock by DR.. C. j. Prickett
Grass Fire ON Monday
Firemen were called Monday af-
ternoon to extinguish a grass fire
at the Smyrna colored school.