During the early morning hours of September 16, 1927, Mr. Charles Wilson was awoken by the actions of a small fox terrier tugging at his bed sheets. The terrier had been sleeping in the barn nearby and when a fire started in the Wilson house, and the dog sprang into action. Now awake, Mr. Wilson roused his wife then attempted to run upstairs to rescue their 5 children, but the stairway was engulfed in flames. As Wilson was a painter, he had plenty of ladders and he ran out to the barn to get 3 ladders to put against the windows for the children. All 5 children made it out of the house safely.Wilson then ran half a mile to the house next door and called the Frigidaire Company’s Emergency department. They responded and put the fire out, aided by chemicals. By the time the fire was out, it had destroyed the house and everything in it. Wilson did not make an estimate of the damages he suffered, but speculation was that there was several hundred thousand dollars in damages. The children could not attend school because their day clothing was lost in the fire.

The fire appeared to have started in the dining room, but it is unclear how it started.