Article taken from The Chronicle Telegram, Elyria, Ohio, March 28, 1950
By United Press
High winds yesterday resulted in the death of two men in Ohio while the accompanying heavy rains put an end to a raging forest fire in the Portsmouth area.
Clarence H. Oldaker, Jr., 19, Columbus steeplejack, was killed when a 70-foot water tower on which he was working was toppled by the howling wind.
Charles A. Vogel, 32, of Milwaukee, Wis., was killed as he stepped from his automoblie near a state park on Route 30 east of Mansfield. His wife and six-month-old child were not hurt.
Gusts reached up to 60 miles per hour in some parts of the state and were apparently part of a general wind storm that buffeted the mid-western states. Wires, utility poles and trees were felled, but there was little serious property damage.
The heavy rain quenched a raging fire that had roared through 30 miles of brush and forest between Portsmouth and Ironton along both sides of the Ohio river.
The fire for a time had threatened radio station WPAY atop a 500-foot hill at South Portsmouth, KY. The flames, which raged out of control, also threatened South Portsmouth school and pupils were dismissed to help fight the fire.