Ferndale High School - Reflector Yearbook (Johnstown, PA)

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' F ERN DALE FIRE December ll, 1936, marks the date of the disastrous fire which burned the Ferndale Grade School building. When the blaze was first discovered, few rc- garded it as serious, and -even several times during the first hour, firemen an- nounced that it was under control. Scarce- ly any one believed that the fire would reach the astounding proportions that it did. Miss Jessie Statler, who was adjusting the shades in her home room in the high school some time before eight o'clock in the morning, suddenly noticed smoke is- suing from the building across the street. She investigated at once, and immediately called the fire department. In so far as it happened at such an early hour, there were very few people in the high school building and none in the other. Within a few minutes, the Ferndale Fire Company arrived, and twenty minutes later there were seven other departments on the scene-Johnstown, Conemaugh, Franklin, Dale, Lorain, Westmont, and Southmont. ln spite of all the equipment, however, little could be accomplished be- cause of apparent low water pressure. By the time water was supplied, the fire had gained such headway that under no circumstances could it be checked. About noon the entire structure had been burned out except for one or two rooms along Henry street. Shortly afterwards the wall facing Summit Avenue came crashing to the ground. Throughout the morning, the firemen fought the blaze bravely, during which time the roof had collapsed in several places. By three o'clock in the afternoon, it was necessary to blow up the chimney to prevent its falling and jeopardizing the lives of those in that vicinity. The loss of building and equipment, estimated at 847,000 was cov- ered by insurance.

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, le, If I Il. STORY TELLlNCfThe next significant step in this inter- esting, cleuelopment was that of story telling. Because so few early people were able to express themselves in pictures, they resorted to story-telling, orally relating their experiences and icleals to the next generations. After a jew centuries they were able to write these stories with letters rather than pictures, and thus, originated the alphabet and early books.