“Name that Year” is designed to put your knowledge of Tracy and its newsmakers of the past to the test. Each week, we will publish a news item that ran in a past edition — maybe it was a major event, or a story about a Tracy resident — it’s up to you to determine in what year that particular news item hit the pages of the paper:
• “THIS WILL HAVE TO GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS ONE OF TRACY’S FIRSTS,” commented Tracy Fire Chief Denny DeBlieck, referring to the water tower being on fire on a cold Monday afternoon of this year.
The Fire Department responded to the first call at approximately 1:25 p.m. for a water truck and then came the second call stating that the tower was actually on fire.
Crewmen of Elevated Tank Service, Inc. of Sioux Falls were using a torch to cut the bands around the casing covering the water pipe leading up to the tower, when the insulation inside started on fire. The Fire Department reported that at least two men were up on the platform doing the work when the fire started. They were evidently unable to get down during the fire, but no one was injured.
Damages included not only burned insulation, but part of the platform was burned as well. The casing around the pipe was damaged, and the outside portion of the tower received fire and smoke damage. Estimated cost of the damage was unknown at the time of the fire.
• Last week’s answer: Killed in action in Vietnam two days after Christmas 1971, was First Class Warrant Officer Raymond R. Cooreman, 21.
