SOUTHWICK, MA: July 1, 1907
— The largest ice house in New England, containing about 75,000 tons of ice, a large quantity of machinery and 40 railroad boxcars, was destroyed by fire with a loss estimated at $200,000. The blaze, which swept the site situated on the shores of Lake Congamong, may have been accidentally ignited by tramps smoking in a boxcar.
CINCINNATI, OH: July 2, 1907
— A four-story office building on Main Street collapsed around noon. Its foundation, apparently weakened by an excavation on an adjacent property, gave way and caused the exterior wall to collapse outward into the excavation. Forty laborers were eating their lunches at the site next door when the wall toppled over. Ten men were hurt inside the collapsing building and in the work area next door. Firemen freed several men trapped in voids. One fireman, Joseph McDonald, was struck in the head by a falling brick.
MONMOUTH, NJ: July 3, 1907
— A lightning bolt struck a large oil house on a railroad pier, igniting a blaze that lit the early-evening sky. The 20-foot-square frame structure burned with a fury, threatening the Monmouth Yacht Club clubhouse and a large steamer moored nearby. Boat crews helped firemen stretch hoses to protect the exposures and extinguish the fire.
NEW YORK CITY: July 4, 1907
— Firemen responded to 116 reported fires during the holiday celebration. Most fires were minor, but 57 were considered as working fires. The city also suffered other incidents as the use of pistols by celebratory citizens killed three people and injured 126 others.
NEWPORT, RI: July 4, 1907
— The fire department operated at several fires, including one in the Cadwalader Cottage, a large, timber-framed Victorian structure. Members of the department were lined up in the center of town ready to step off in a parade when the alarm for the structure fire was received. The firemen responded three miles to the site of the blaze and went to work before a huge crowd of spectators who had followed from the parade.
BATTLE CREEK, MI: July 4, 1907
— The main building of the huge Toasted Corn Flakes Company was destroyed by a fire that injured three firemen seriously. Afterwards, a lineman clearing wires away from the ruins was accidentally electrocuted.
PEMBROKE, ME: July 4, 1907
— The business section of town was swept by flames that destroyed 14 buildings, including a hotel, stables, a general store and several storehouses.
BURLINGTON, NJ: July 7, 1907
— Arsonists attempted to burn a large warehouse filled with coal and farming equipment located along the riverfront. Arriving firemen found two separate fires burning and quickly extinguished both.
PHILADELPHIA, PA: July 10, 1907
— Two men were killed and 15 were injured when a four-story reinforced-concrete building collapsed during construction. Firemen began to free three men pinned beneath tons of rubble, but were in imminent danger as huge crumbling walls hung over them. Three hours after the initial collapse, the last man was rescued from the wreckage.
ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA: July 16, 1907
— The bathhouse on the estate of Count Leo Tolstoy was burned down by arsonists during the night. The blaze probably was the work of provincial peasants, who were causing much damage in the region.
HAMBURG, GERMANY: July 19, 1907
— An extensive fire destroyed warehouses in the commercial district of the city. Many firemen were knocked unconscious by the dense smoke as flames jumped from building to building. That entire area of the city was in danger of being swept by a conflagration.
PAUL HASHAGEN, a Firehouse® contributing editor, is a retired FDNY firefighter who was assigned to Rescue Company 1 in Manhattan. He is also an ex-chief of the Freeport, NY, Fire Department. Hashagen is the author of FDNY 1865-2000: Millennium Book, a history of the New York City Fire Department, and other fire service history books.
