Dec. 4, 1903: SALINA, KS - Flames broke out in the H.D. Lee wholesale grocery company around noon and spread throughout the structure and to the hardware company next door. The extending fire threatened the entire business section of the city until firemen were able to bring the half-million-dollar blaze under control.
Dec. 6, 1903: NEW YORK CITY - A blaze was discovered in the basement of a Fulton Street restaurant just after 7:45 P.M. As firemen arrived and plunged into the fiery basement, Patrolman Frank Redican of the New York Police Department entered the building and moved to the upper floors to warn people of the fire. Redican was quickly overcome by the dense smoke and fell unconscious to the floor. In the basement similar conditions were felling the first nozzle team as firemen dragged each other from the dense smoke. Members of Engine 31 located the policeman and rushed him to the street. Despite the efforts of two doctors on the scene, the officer succumbed.
Dec. 7, 1903: PITTSBURGH - The Hubbard Shovel works, one of the largest manufacturing companies of its kind, was heavily damaged by a fire that broke out at 11:50 P.M. The nearly five-acre building on Butler Street was a mass of flames as firemen arrived. With limited water supplies, the firemen were still able to hold and then extinguish the blaze.
Dec. 14, 1903: PITTSBURGH - Spontaneous combustion was blamed for a fire that took four hours to battle in bitter-cold conditions. Considered one of the most stubborn and dangerous fires the department had ever faced, the flames tore through the Arnott Power Co. on the seventh floor of the building located between Penn Avenue and Duquesne Way. Flames extended to the Michigan Furniture Co. and an engraving and printing company. Captain Bennett and Nozzleman Joseph Furley of Engine Company 2 were overcome by the dense smoke and were seriously burned before they could be rescued.
Dec. 25, 1903: MEMPHIS, TN - An early-morning fire in the Lowenstein & Brothers department store, the oldest dry goods house in western Tennessee, caused more than $100,000 in damage. The fire started in the basement of the retail branch near the boiler room. Firemen extinguished the blaze before it could reach the wholesale storage area of the building.
Dec. 27, 1903: TROY, NY - The fifth big fire within a few weeks in the city caused $200,000 in damage to a wholesale and retail grocery on River Street. Firemen were greatly hampered by a network of overhead wires that left them unable to ladder the structure. The entire volunteer fire department worked most of the day to control the flames.
Time Capsule
DEC. 30, 1903: CHICAGO - 602 PERISH IN THEATER FIRE
The houselights dimmed and the curtain rose to the delight of the Iroquois Theatre's audience. Nineteen hundred people, mostly women and children, were on hand to see a musical comedy called "Mr. Blue Beard" and other acts starring Eddie Foy. As the second number began, an arc light set curtains on fire, and the flames spread to other curtains and scenery above the stage. Within moments, a major fire was raging above the stage. As the fire was being fought with a hand extinguisher, Foy implored the audience to remain calm and exit the auditorium. The fire curtain was finally dropped, but it didn't cover the entire stage and flames were soon shooting into the balconies. Foy was driven from the stage and audience began to stampede in panic. The hall was soon a mass of fire, smoke and screaming people. A third alarm was transmitted on arrival as firemen were overwhelmed by the huge fire and wall of bodies clogging the exits. The injured and dead were pulled from the building, clearing a path for the hose teams. When the fire was extinguished and the smoke cleared, the extent of the horror became evident: 602 people were dead and hundreds were injured. From the ashes of the Iroquois Theatre came new fire safety laws including unlocked, outward-opening doors, sprinklers and flame-proof scenery.
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.
