PERKASIE, Pa. — The Perkasie Fire Company is set to hold a remembrance event Wednesday evening, April 1, 2026, marking 100 years since the line-of-duty deaths of Firefighters Jacob Crouthamel and Willis Sames.
According to the fire company, Crouthamel and Sames were riding on the side boards of a Perkasie fire truck on April 1, 1926, while responding to what was believed to be a fire at the Bush Hotel in Quakertown.
As the truck neared the scene, the driver made an evasive maneuver to avoid another vehicle, causing the apparatus to briefly leave the edge of the roadway. During the incident, both firefighters struck a telephone pole and were thrown from the truck.
Firefighter Jacob Crouthamel died at the scene. Firefighter Willis Sames died a short time later at the Gehman Hotel in Quakertown.
Perkasie Fire Company said the tragedy remains the only line-of-duty deaths in the department’s 136-year history. While firefighting equipment and apparatus have changed significantly over the last century, the company said the dangers faced by volunteer firefighters remain very real each time they respond to an emergency.
To honor the sacrifice of the two men, the fire company has planned a procession and memorial ceremony for Wednesday night.
The event is expected to include Perkasie Fire Company members, along with other fire companies and police departments from the surrounding area, many of which share history tied to the same call on that night in 1926.
The procession will begin at the company’s main firehouse at 100 N. Fifth Street in Perkasie and travel to the area of the 1926 crash near the Quakertown Farmers Market on Station Road in Quakertown.
Organizers said the procession will leave at 7:35 p.m. — the same time the original call came into the company 100 years ago — and will follow the same route taken by the truck carrying Crouthamel and Sames.
Once participants arrive at the scene, a memorial ceremony will be held in remembrance of the two firefighters. The event will also include the unveiling of a roadside marker that will be placed at the site of the incident in their honor.
Residents are invited to observe the procession along the route as the community remembers the service and sacrifice of the two fallen firefighters.
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