5 Firemen Hurt in Traffic Crash

5 FIREMEN HURT IN TRAFFIC CRASH Truck Rams Apparatus Speeding to Blaze in Yorkship Square Five city firemen are in West Jersey Homeopathic Hospital today suffering from injuries when their apparatus collided with a truck at Ninth street and Ferry avenue while they were racing to a Yorkship square fire late yesterday. All are attached to Engine Company No. 8. They are: Captain Charles Erickson, 43, of 579 Line street; bruises of the left leg and left hip. Wallace Phifer, 37, of 1215 Atlantic avenue; possible fractured vertebrae. Adam Mead, 32, of 1634 Sheridan street; admitted for observation. Herbert Baxter, 45, of 320 Liberty street; cuts over the left eye and face, bruises on both knees. Edward Menzis, 36, of 2402 Berwick street; possible fractured skull and cut over the right eye. Fire Damage $5000 The fire to which they were hurrying damaged the apartment and drug store of V. I. Chestnut, 1200 Yorkship Square. The blaze was confined to the apartment upstairs, but water and smoke caused damage to the store and fixtures. Total loss was estimated at $5000. The truck which hit the combination fire apparatus was operated by Joseph Scheurer, 22, of 1859 East Ontario street, Philadelphia, and owned by the Stores Realty Company, of 424 North Nineteenth street, Philadelphia. Failed to Hear Siren The fire truck driven by Phifer was speeding south on Ninth street while the machine driven by Scheurer was proceeding west on Ferry avenue. Scheurer said he did not hear the siren until he reached the intersection and that it was then too late to stop. The fire engine was turned around by the impact and the five occupants thrown to the street. Both trucks were damaged. Scheurer was arrested by Detective Joseph Caputi and held in $1000 bail pending a hearing. A short circuit in an electric heater caused the blaze in the Chestnut apartment. The fire was discovered by Marvin Chestnut, 8, who called to his father downstairs. It was extinguished with little difficulty.