Wayne, PA Nursing Home Fire, Dec 1973

9 DIE IN NURSING HOME FIRE.

Wayne, Pa. (UPI) -- Nine elderly persons were killed and more than 40 other persons were injured Tuesday when fire swept the Caley Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in this Philadelphia suburb.
The fire broke out at about 9 a.m. in the 73-year-old, four-story stone and wood building and raged out of control about one hour.
Fire officials said there were about 75 persons in the 100-bed facility when the fire started. They said the blaze began on the second floor.
The nursing home was cited in July by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry for 13 violations of the federal Life Safety Code and had been given six months to make corrections.
The changes the hame were to have made included installation of an automatic sprinkler protection system and installation of a smoke heat detection device connected to a fire alarm system.
"We're in compliance with everything," Mrs. Vivian
Shearman, administrator of the home, said at the fire. She said the building had been inspected in September and she had not received any written order from the department of labor and industry.
Radnor Township Fire Marshall Edwin J. Clark said he had inspected the facility five or six weeks ago and did not cite the home's administration for any fire hazards. He said, however, the only sprinklers were in the basement
and the building had no heat detection units.
Workers at a nearby American Telephone and Telegraph building and other shops and offices helped rescue some of the elderly, wheeling many of them out on wheelchairs and beds.
The dead were identified as:
ALICE MADDEN.
WENDELL NEWCOMER.
ARTHUR PEREYRA.
WILLIS RAMSEY.
CATHERINE STALLARD.
BEATRICE LIVINGSTON.
L. D'INNOCENZO.
AGNES HELMETAG.
HELEN HARRIS.
The injured were taken to Bryn Mawr, Paoli and Haverford hospitals.
A spokesman said many were not injured seriously.

Lebanon Daily News Pennsylvania 1973-12-05
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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!