The American Lafrance pumper got
seriously bogged
down in the mud as it tried to make it to a water supply to fight the
above fire.
Mud
can stop even our bravest. This is the Saint
Remy American Lafrance engine the day after the fire shown below. The
engine
was headed for a pond to pump water to the fire when the soft spring
ground
swallowed it up to the axles. The
crew managed to pull it out in a few hours. (L-R)
Sam Barnett?, Phil Fischer Jr., Cornelius Helmich, Walter Helmich or Doc
Bovie, Harry Havlin (with cigar) Jimmy Helmich,
Driver unknown.
The
Bomer house was located on the Oak Grove
Farm (now the Oak Tree Farm) between Saint Remy and Rifton. Mr.
Bomer had just
finished renovating the house and someone who didn’t like him was
overheard
making the comment ‘No
siree, you’ll never live in this place’. Two days later
it burned to the ground. The arsonist was never brought to justice.
