Times Observer photos by Josh Cotton City of Warren Fire Captain Andy Moore makes a pitch for a firefighters memorial during Tuesday’s Parks, Recreation & Landscape Committee meeting.

That includes specifically naming the one individual – Capt. Hartwell Wiley – who died is the city’s fire service.

Capt. Andy Moore addressed the city’s Parks, Recreation & Landscape Commission Tuesday about placing a memorial in Clemons Park, located at the corner of Fourth Ave. and Hickory St.

He said there was “never anything done for this gentleman. Back in the day, when you died on the job, that was about it. You died on the job.”

The proposal was for a stone memorial with one sign dedicated generally to all who have served in the city’s fire service with specific names of those deceased – just Willey now – on the back.

Capt. Hartwell Willey’s grave in Oakland Cemetery. He’s the sole official city firefighter to die in the line of duty.

Moore said there would be no cost to the city and the firefighters would fund the project.

“I don’t think Clemons gets a lot of use,” he said. “The chickens love it…. Other than a Flag Day ceremony at the Elks Club, there is not a ton of use right there necessarily.”

“We’ve talked about it legitimately for a decade,” he added. “It’s time to do stuff, so to speak.”

The commission on Tuesday approved a motion to recommend approval of the proposal.

The department has preserved the Warren Times-Mirror on Dec. 22, 1955 that devoted several stories to the incident that claimed Willey’s life.

It was the lead story – “FIRE CAPTAIN LOSES LIFE IN BLAST AT UNITED” and notes that Willey was “KILLED INSTANTLY.”

“Captain Hartwell Willey, 50, of the Warren Fire Department gave his life during the early morning hours, when fire again struck the United Refining Co.,” the Times-Mirror reported. “Death came after an unexpected explosion which followed a blaze in the filter house unit of the Refinery.”

Details were provided for the others injured – burns and lacerations featured prominently among the half dozen injured, in addition to Fire Chief James Tridico who, the paper says, “suffered shock and is under observation at this time.”

The Times-Mirror reported that a fire on the second story of the filter house broke out and refinery staff put it out with hand extinguishers and then called the fire department.

City (then Borough of Warren) firefighters responded and had the blaze apparently under control prior to the explosion.

A captain told the Times-Mirror that “Willey was entering the main building with other firemen handling fog and foam lines, when the blast let go, fatally injuring Captain Willey and sending ten others to the hospital in three ambulances.”

In an hour, the fire was again under control. Mutual aid featured prominently as volunteers from Clarendon, Youngsville, Glade, North Warren, Russell, Pleasant township “and other sections responded to the general alert,” per the report.

The report also said that seven weeks earlier there was a fire – the paper called it “an early morning Sunday conflagration” – that caused $500,000 in damages but no injuries.

A second story noted that there was no clear estimate for the cost of the explosion and fire that claimed Willey’s life – “A company spokesman said the blast knocked out one wall and buckled another. ‘It will be quite some time before we get squared away,’ he stated. ‘There is a lot of debris to clean up and it’s a question of getting in to see how badly the filters are twisted.'”

The third story highlighted Willey.

“A long and faithful career as a member of the Warren Fire Department was halted early this morning when an explosion at the United Refining Co. claimed the life of Captain Hartwell Willey, 108 Wetmore street, while he was engaged with other local firefighters in combating a blaze that started on the second floor of the filter house building,” the Times-Mirror reported.

Willey, then 50-years-old, was born in 1905 in Warren and had been a borough employee in the fire service since he was 22. His father was a firefighter in the horse-drawn response days.

From the report: “Capt. Willey was a Warren borough employee for 28 years and in a statement issued today by Burgess William E. Rice on behalf of local government officials, he said – ‘Hartwell Willey was a long-time valued employee and the Department has suffered a great loss.'”

He was a 1925 graduate of Warren High School and “had lived in Warren all his life.”

The Times-Mirror highlighted his community involvement.

“He was also very active in the annual muscular dystrophy campaign, having served as chairman for the past two years. In an interview held at the Times-Mirror just last week, Mr. Willey expressed his deep appreciation to all who responded to this year’s plea for funds.

“As a member of the department, he was also actively interested and bust with the Christmas toy repair project just completed by the firemen, and during others years, devoted much time and effort to seeing to the needs of underprivileged children.”

He’s buried at Oakland Cemetery.

Given the timeliness from Tuesday’s meeting, I’ve decided to interrupt the ANF Centennial stories. We’ll be back to that next week.