Jan. 3, 1903: TUXEDO PARK, NY - The million-dollar residence of Henry W. Poor caught fire due to an overheated furnace. The local fire company arrived quickly and held the fire to the room of origin. The building and contents sustained smoke and water damage.
Jan. 6, 1903: BUFFALO, NY - A tough fire was fought by Buffalo firemen as flames swept through the five-story brick and steel structure of Knowles and Gardiner's department store. The entire stock of the company was destroyed, but the building remained standing.
Jan. 6, 1903: NEW ORLEANS, LA - Excellent work by firemen saved the section of Campe Street known as "Newspaper Row." The blaze started in a four-story crockery establishment, which was destroyed. Flames threatened to spread to nearby newspaper buildings where employees were just finishing the morning editions.
Jan. 7, 1903: BRONX, NY - Fire raced through the house of Fire Lieutenant William Miller of Engine Company 45. The family's music teacher noticed flames behind the piano due to a defective flue and was driven back as flames erupted from the wall. The teacher rescued one daughter, then re-entered the burning home. Searching, she found the second daughter unconscious on the top floor and took her to safety. George, the son, raced to the firehouse four blocks away and reported, "Our house is on fire, Pop!" The company responded immediately.
Jan. 9, 1903: LONDON, ONTARIO - At about 5 P.M., a young boy working at the huge McClary Manufacturing Company struck a match to light the gas and accidentally dropped it in a vat of oil. The oil ignited with explosive force and touched off one of the worst fires in the city's history. The fire erupted with explosive force, sending a sheet of flames across the first floor of the huge factory. More than 500 workers scrambled to escape the growing flames. Firemen struggled to contain the blaze in the freezing weather.
Jan. 10, 1903: NASHVILLE, TN - Firemen struggled to stop the spread of a fire that fully involved the Lyles-Black Company wholesale dry goods establishment. Flames were spreading to the exposures, both dry goods houses, but were controlled by hoselines.
Jan. 13, 1903: YONKERS, NY - A huge fire broke out just after midnight in the lumber yards along Bashford Avenue. Within an hour, acres of stored, seasoned lumber were ablaze in the most spectacular fire ever seen in the city. Firemen set up to make a stand at the Otis Elevator plant as the huge wall of fire threatened the structure.
Jan. 15, 1903: NEW YORK CITY - A fire on the third floor of 25 Bond St. trapped Adolph Robinson at an attic window. Fireman McDermott of Engine 33 dashed into the exposure and raced to the adjoining attic window. The fireman climbed out onto the cornice and made his way to the trapped man. Forced to pull his helmet down over his eyes, he jumped through a sheet of fire, grabbed the man in his arms and returned, again through fire, to the exposure.
Jan. 21, 1903: JERSEY CITY, NJ - The company mascot of Engine 9, "Nan" the famous fire cat, lost her life in the line of duty while responding. Recovering from a previous leg injury, the cat responded to an alarm, misjudged the distance to the rig and fell beneath the horses' hooves.
Time Capsule
LONDON, ENGLAND - JAN. 27, 1903: AT LEAST 52 WOMEN PERISH IN ASYLUM FIRE
Flames raced through the five wooden buildings of the Colney Hatch Insane Asylum, a few miles outside of London. More than 3,000 patients were housed in the rambling establishment. Nearly 600 women were housed in the dormitory, one of five parallel temporary structures that were linked to the main building and each other by wooden corridors.
Firemen were faced with a large number of mentally handicapped patients in total panic, running back into the blazing structures. Doctors and nurses were forced to herd the excited patients away from the fire as firemen struggled to establish an adequate water supply and to operate inside burning structures safeguarded by elaborate locking systems. As the smoke cleared initial reports indicated at least 52 women perished.
Paul Hashagen, a Firehouse® contributing editor, is an FDNY firefighter 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.
