Where’s The
Fire?
By Harold D. Gingerich
Operator: “Number…... number please.”
Caller: “Ada, where’s the fire?”
“How bad is it?” “Anybody hurt?”
No doubt that conversation was
and got them headed in the right
repeated a thousand times over the
direction. Fortunately the telecourse of years from 1924 to 1969.
phone office was located next to the
And of course, Ada Yoder, like evfire station at that time.
ery small town switchboard operaFirst organized in 1912, the
tor, knew exactly where the fire was
Topeka Volunteer Fire Department
because the call had come through her started fighting fires with a pair of
board. In Topeka she was the one who hand-drawn hose carts. City water
touched off the fire whistle and called
had become available in 1911, but
the fire phones in the homes of the
the carts still had to be pulled to
volunteers. Her counter part in Shipthe fire by hand. By 1929, the
shewana was Gertie Glick. For many
department had a new truck, a
years the telephone operators played
Model A Ford. With a pump and
a vital role in small community’s fire
two small water tanks on board,
protection.
the firefighters didn’t have to
In the book “CelebratAda Yoder, Topeka Switchboard Operator from 1924 - 1969
Photos submitted by the Topeka Historical Society
ing a Century 1893-1993”,
Mary Elizabeth Bontrager,
a former Topeka telephone operator, told the
story of a fire that broke
out in a factory newly
located in Topeka. The
night operator called for
the fire truck, gave the
instructions only to see
the firemen heading in
the wrong direction. She
franticly ran out into the
street, flagged them down
pg 14 · The Hometown Treasure · Jan. ‘12