An all hands call was put out and firefighters from surrounding community's responded including
Stowe Twp. VFD all the way from over near Mckeesrocks with 10 firefighters on a Truck in the days before firefighter safety when you hung on for dear life there where no enclosed cabs and seat belts.
Trucks where much smaller back then and was probably overloaded.
As members of Stowe Twp. VFD Hose Company number 2# and Hose Company #4 riding on a 1924 American Lafrance Pumper when it missed a curve on Wind Gap Road and plunged over a hill side.
instantly killing 2 Firefighters Adolph Sonnet 30 and Joseph DePetro 45 and a 3rd Carl Moyer who succumbed to his wounds days later as well as 8 firefighters severely hurt.
All back in a day without modern trauma centers and 24 hr full time staffed emergency rooms .
A miracle in it self any survived .
But this was not first fire on this site the Etna chemical company was once on this site and suffered a catastrophic explosion during WWI
I can find no mention of this explosion under the Etna name but there was a catastrophic explosion killed 200 at Aetna Chemical Company Oakdale which is near Heidelberg in 1917 and again in 1918
Seems Oakdale and Heidelberg name where interchanged in various articles of the day.
