"The Big Fire" by Keith Dyon

The Village of Antler has had its share of fires over the years but the one that was a major disaster was the night the big livery barn on main street burned down, along with an implement business and a grocery store.  The butcher shop was also badly damaged but was saved and repaired.  This fire occured the first part of May in 1940 on a Saturday night.  I was working at Ed George's John Deere  and Red & White Store.  It was about 12:30 at night and I had not long been home and in bed when I noted a reflection on the wall.  We lived just across and up the street from the barn.  I got up and looked out and there was the big red barn on fire!  I roused my Dad and brother Carm and by this time a few others had noticed as well.  There was nothing anyone could do about the barn and, unfortunately there was a team of dray horses inside and it wasn't possible to get them out.  Len Hawkins, who owned the barn and team, felt terrible but there was nought that could be done to save them.  There was quite a crowd gathered and efforts were concentrated on saving the butcher shop, the roof of which was on fire by this time.  A bucket brigade started a relay carrying water across the street and up ladders throwing the water on the roof and by this means the shop was saved to the extent that they were later able to repair it.  The barn burned fiercely and next to it was Copet's machine and oil business which caught fire as well.  It provided quite a sight as the oil drums kept blowing up.  Then soon, Hewitt's grocery store next to Copet's caught fire too.  Hewitts lived up above the store and luckily they got out but were not able to save much of anything.  McVeigh's big General Store, a few feet from Hewitt's, was kept from igniting by pouring water down the side of that building which happened to be sided with tin , which helped to deter the flames.  Fire fighting went on most of that night and the people that owned the Chinese cafe across the street kept his place open giving the fire fighters coffee and sandwiches all night long.  At daylight there was nothing left of those three buildings except the long chimney of the Hewitt store.  I remember Ed Kennedy was working at Stuckey's that spring and he walked the back lane to Stuckey's  when he noticed this chimney standing and thought that wasn't there before...then it dawned on him that the buildings were gone.  He had slept through the night!  The minister, Mr. Harry, took off for Sinclair where he preached first thing on Sunday morning and when he got there they asked him about the fire in Antler.  He too had slept throughout the night and even though he drove past town he'd noticed nothing.  At the start of the fire, old Norm (White) was one of the first to notice the flames.  He was on his way up to Earlies where he was roosting and he started to holler 'fire' and they heard him clean out to Borreson's - a mile and a half south-east of town!  It was a blow to Antler.  Hewitt's store was  never rebuilt and the family moved to the west coast.  The livery barn, of course, was gone forever.  Copet did bring in a shed from his farm and reopened his business.  It was a night to remember and it surely was a blow to out little town.  Most feelings though went for the poor team of horses burned as everyone in town were friends of those horses.  They figured the fire was started by indiscriminate playing by boys with firecrackers.  It was a great community effort that night to contain the fire as well as they did and to save what they could.  Kids and grown-ups emptied available cisterns just by passing pails of water hand to hand across the street.  A couple of farmers came in with water tanks by team from the country.  We have had other fires tut this one was the most spectacular.  I recall one humorous incident - as the pails of water were handed up the ladders, the guys on the roof would drop the empty pails and it would be relayed back to the others.  Dan Morrison was just in the act of picking up one such pail when one dropped and landed on his head.  The air was blue for a spell.  Dr. Mather was one of the more energetic firemen and I remember he ruined a brand new suit.