Sac-Osage Hospital Blazes
Sac-Osage Hospital Blazes, Eight Die in Tuesday Tragedy
St. Clair County Courier
5 December 1974
Bulletin.
No cause has been determined for the fire that took eight lives at the Sac-Osage
hospital here in Osceola early Tuesday. Three representatives of the Missouri
State Fire Marshall’s office left at 7:15 p.m. tonight, but were to return
Wednesday morning. They will be joined by a specialist from the National Fire
Protection Association.
The board of directors of the Sac-Osage Hospital met Tuesday night with Hewitt &
Royer, the Kansas City architectural firm which initially designed the 41-bed
hospital, opened just five years ago.
A preliminary rough estimate on the cost of rebuilding damaged sections of the
hospital and replacing ruined furniture was placed at well in excess of
$100,000. Down time needs also to be taken into consideration, the board agreed.
Hewitt & Royer will bring in engineers to develop the needed plans and make
final cost estimates.
Date of reopening of the hospital is indefinite, and is contingent on
recommendations of the Division of Health of Missouri, and other involved
agencies.
“It was like an oven in there”, was the way one volunteer fireman described the
north ward of the Sac-Osage Hospital where eight patients died in a 12:30 a.m.
blaze Tuesday that is one of the worst tragedies ever recorded in this area.
The fire apparently started in the northwest corner of the hospital in the
section containing rooms numbered in the 200’s, containing 16 beds. A nurses’
aide was alerted by the smell of smoke from this area before the automatic alarm
system was activated only moments later. However, intense heat and smoke
prevented them from reaching the ten patients trapped in the blazing wing from
within the hospital.
The volunteer fire department arrived on the scene within 4 to 5 minutes to
offer its assistance to the hospital staff in removing patients from the blazing
inferno.
Joe Mangum, a volunteer firefighter, said that in the north wing most of the
patients were taken from their rooms from the outside because it was impossible
to work from the inside of this wing because of the heat and smoke. Two women,
Effie Riddle, 52, of Deepwater, and Jessie Eneff, 74, of Lowry City, were pulled
to safety through the windows to the outside of the hospital. These two women
were the only survivors of the north wing.
The eight who died in the blaze were: Neva Wheeler, 70, Osceola; Simmie O.
“Curley” Pine, 75, Lowry City; Audra Moore, 71, Collins; Frances Zeiler, 52,
Osceola; Riley Winn, 68, Osceola; Eula Lowry, 66, Osceola, Geraldine May, 54,
Wheatland; and Julia McKinnon, 77, Collins.
Fighting in near zero weather, the evacuation of the remainder of the patients
in the other two wards went smoothly. The patients were removed by using
wheelchairs, rolling out the beds or with assistance of the hospital personnel
and volunteer firemen. After being escorted from the burning structure, the
patients were taken to the Tri-County Clinic where they were examined and either
permitted to return to their homes or were transferred to the Golden Valley
Hospital in Clinton.
It was only a few minutes after the alarm sounded that employees of the hospital
began flooding in to help in the evacuation of patients and the business of
safely transporting them to other hospitals. Mrs. Evelyn Zeiler is director of
nursing at the Sac-Osage Hospital. Dale Berkbigler, a fourth year medical
student in training in Osceola, also arrived almost immediately at the scene as
did Dr. Stephen Saylor, doctor on call, and Dr. Jerome Thies, the chief of
staff.
Those who died in the fire were taken to Goodrich Funeral Home. From there,
Geraldine May was taken by Hathaway Ambulance to Wheatland.
“The composure of the nurses on duty is what helped in saving the lives of many
of the elderly patients in the hospital,” stated John Brack, Administrator of
the Sac-Osage Hospital.
The blaze in the hospital was easily brought under control but not before the
damaging smoke and heat had taken its toll on the eight patients in the burned
out wing. After halting the blaze, the eight were taken from their beds by
firemen who entered through the windows of the wing and felt for the patients
amid the dense smoke.
With the fire brought under control and the surviving patients under medical
supervision again, the task of bringing order out of chaos began. The first task
was the notification of the relatives of those who had died in the fire. Bonnie
Kelly, R.N., and Maudie Reed, receptionist, both manned the hospital phones at 1
a.m., and the doctors informed the next of kin of the tragedy.
Relatives also had to be notified of the transfer of patients to the Golden
Valley
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be taken of the various rooms and this could not be done until the steam cleared
from the area. After pictures can be taken to determine the positioning of all
furnishings in the room, the rooms will be cleaned out so that the investigation
can continue. According to a spokesman for the hospital, the cause of the fire,
if determined, will not be announced until after a special board meeting which
was called for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night. Medicare authorities, and Federal and
State Division of Welfare representatives are also investigating the fire.
The doctors of the Sac-Osage Hospital made their first trip Tuesday morning to
Clinton to check their patients in the Golden Valley Hospital. The Tri-County
Clinic also remained open on Tuesday despite the confusion of the night before.
Patients transferred to the Golden Valley Hospital in Clinton were: Effie
Riddle, 52, Deepwater; Rosena Vance, 82, Weaubleau; Jessie Eneff, 74, Lowry
City; Matthew Ladish, 68, Humansville; Herbert Ryland, 65, Clinton; Bertha
Wright, 86, Humansville; and Everett Anderson, 64, Warsaw.