Feb. 1, 1901: NEW YORK CITY - Ladder Company 7 rolled out of its 28th Street firehouse responding to a reported fire at 133 West 26th St. At the corner of Sixth Avenue and 28th Street one of the rig's wheels became stuck in a trolley car track just as the driver started his turn, causing the apparatus to roll over. The driver, tillerman and officer, along with 11 men, were thrown to the street. Luckily, no one was seriously injured and the damaged apparatus was righted.
Feb. 2, 1901: DETROIT - An early-morning fire was battled by firemen under extremely cold conditions. The blaze gutted 46-50 Larned St., the home of the Dreskell-Jupp Paper Company, then spread to several printing businesses before being contained.
Feb. 2, 1901: KINGSTON, NY - An overheated furnace caused a major fire in Public School No. 11. The spectacular blaze left only the brick walls standing. Five hundred students were left without classrooms.
Feb. 7, 1901: SCRANTON, PA - A fire in the motor room of the Henwood Building on Lackawanna Avenue broke out around 2 P.M. Within 15 minutes, the wind-driven flames were raging out of control. The fire jumped from store to store until the entire block was burning.
Feb. 8, 1901: ST. CLOUD, MN - A fire started in a steam laundry and spread to a grocery store and a livery stable before it could be controlled. Embers and radiant heat soon had the West Hotel in flames as well. Thirty people in the hotel scrambled to safety.
Feb. 8, 1901: FAIR HAVEN, CT - Two large one-story structures were ravaged by flames during the early-morning hours. Mutual aid was requested from New Haven as the fire spread throughout the large buildings. Nearly five acres of the plant was left in ruins.
Feb. 9, 1901: PITTSBURGH - One of the most spectacular fires in many years struck the city when flames broke out in the Armstrong Cork Factory on 24th Street at the river. Firemen raised numerous ladders to help remove the more than 1,500 people at work in the factory. The fire gained considerable headway during the rescues and was soon in the adjoining foundry building. Five alarms were transmitted before the flames could be quelled.
Feb. 28, 1901: SPANGLER, PA - Firefighters responded to a fire at the Denlinger Bros. Co. that started in a warehouse and mixing room in which a large number of barrels of oil were stored. The fire spread to a stable and a boiler house. It was only by the hardest kind of effort that two large oil tanks, in which thousands of gallons of oil were contained, were saved from destruction.
Time Capsule
FEB. 10, 1901- NEW ROCHELLE, NY: FIREHOUSE BURNS ON A BUSY NIGHT
A fire broke out at 1 A.M. in the Huguenot Engine Company on Lawton Street. Firemen hustled to save the engine and tender as the flames raced through the structure. The building was nearly a total loss and the fire alarm system was rendered out of service.
Earlier in the evening, firemen had battled a blaze in a vacant home on Pelham Road. During the previous week, a store fire was also fought. Investigators believed that the three fires were all incendiary in origin. The Fire Commission offered a $500 reward for the arrest of the guilty persons.
Compiled by Paul Hashagen
