Oct. 2, 1897: LONDON Shortly before midnight, fire broke out in Pascall's confectionery stores on Blackfriars Road. The flames soon spread to nearby Percivals, a government contractor. Both large buildings were destroyed.
Oct. 3, 1897: EAST LONG MEADOW, MA A chimney fire spread to the house and caught the family asleep. Each member of the family escaped the fire but returned to the burning structure, thinking that the others were still inside. The mother and her two sons were lost to the flames; the father escaped with burns.
Oct. 4, 1897: NORWICH, CT Sunlight magnified by a glass roof ignited black powder stored in the Hopkins & Allen factory. The fire damaged revolvers, guns and bicycles manufactured there. A fireman was run over by a fire truck during the response and suffered a broken leg.
Oct. 4, 1897: AUSTIN, PA A fire that started in the Weed's livery stable was soon burning out of control. Firefighting efforts were extremely limited as the mill pond relied upon as the town's primary water source had been drained for repairs. The stable was located on Turner Street and within five hours nearly every building on the street had been destroyed. A hundred buildings were lost, leaving 500 people homeless.
Oct. 5, 1897: UNION HILL, NJ A gasoline stove explosion filled a kitchen with flaming gasoline, burning two women and a small boy. Two firemen who lived nearby raced into the building, pulled the burned people from the kitchen, smothered their flaming clothes, transmitted the fire alarm and returned to the kitchen to extinguish the fire. A secondary explosion occurred as they entered the room but both firemen escaped with minor burns.
Oct. 6, 1897: CHICAGO Strong winds intensified a fire in the Dexter Park Pavilion at the Union Stockyards. Five hundred horses were led out as the flames spread to nearby buildings. Firemen battled the blaze for two hours before it could be contained. A number of structures were destroyed and one person was killed.
Oct. 7, 1897: DETROIT An exploding calcium light started a fire in the Detroit Opera House. Flames soon extended to a furniture store, a table supply company building, a six-story crockery house and a large storage building. Flying brands landed on a repair shop three quarters of a mile away and burned it to the ground. Two firemen were seriously injured battling the blaze.
Oct. 15, 1897: CINCINNATI During the second act of a show, the dome of the 1,500-seat Robinson's Opera House collapsed onto the orchestra section of seats 100 feet below, trapping many people. Panic ensued as the audience rushed for the exits. A secondary collapse occurred within moments, pinning still more people. A general alarm was sounded and the fire department quickly began rescue operations. Several actors joined the police and firemen who were performing heroic rescues in the dangerous collapse area. Three people were removed dead from the collapse pile and as many as 30 more were injured.
Oct. 17, 1897: WINDSOR, Nova Scotia A barn fire possibly caused by lightning was fanned by violent winds that drove the flames to surrounding buildings. Firemen faced an impossible task as flaming embers rained down on the town, igniting numerous structure fires simultaneously. Six hours later, the town was almost destroyed. A mile-square area was a smoldering ruin that swept from the water's edge to the forests at the rear of town. Amazingly, no deaths were reported.
Oct. 20, 1897: NEW YORK CITY Flames being fed by stored oils and cigarettes raced through a four-story warehouse at 3 Platt St. in Manhattan. Workers inside barely escaped the advancing flames, and arriving firemen were faced with burning oils pouring from the upper to the lower floors. Battalion Chief Kruger transmitted a third alarm upon his arrival and Chief Bonner sent in a fourth before the fire was under control.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION: Oct. 15, 1997, marks the 100th anniversary of the Hilton, NY, Fire Department. The department's first equipment consisted of two hand pumpers, a hose cart and a hook-and-ladder wagon. The first motorized apparatus, a Pierce Arrow pumper, was received in 1923. That year, the three companies Rescue Hook and Ladder, Upton Engine Company and Hilton Hose Company reorganized as the Hilton Fire Department. In 1936, it began offering ambulance service, using a converted service car from a funeral director as an ambulance, and responded to 38 calls in its first 14 months of service. Today, the department responds to about 300 fire calls and 850 ambulance calls annually.
TIME CAPSULE
OCT. 5, 1856: Crystal Palace Burns In New York City
The Crystal Palace was a huge exhibition hall constructed of iron and glass and took up a square block on 42nd Street next to the reservoir square. The glass-domed structure was housing the fabulous collection of the American Institute; on display were items that varied from famous sculptures to fire engines.
Smoke was discovered at about 5 P.M. issuing from a large room in the north nave and also near the front entrance. Inside the structure, which was fabricated of 1,250 tons of iron and 39,000 square feet of glass, were about 2,000 people when the cry of "Fire!" went up. The crowd was quickly removed and the fire department called.
The first-arriving units were faced with a tremendous amount of fire and quickly began stretching hoselines into place. Firemen time and again entered the blazing building, attempting to save at least the fire apparatus inside. They were able to drag out the wagon of Empire Hose Company 40 and the carriage of Oceanic Hose Company 36 but five other pieces on display were lost.
Driven from the structure, firemen played more than 20 hoselines into the flames with no effect. Twenty minutes after the fire started, the dome and the roof crashed to the ground. The building and its contents were a total loss estimated at $2 million.
The firemen were now faced with trying to replace two hose carriages, two engines and the hook-and-ladder truck. A committee was set up and subscriptions from the public were solicited and new rigs purchased.
Paul Hashagen
Compiled by Paul Hashagen
