If there was a significant fire or emergency that occurred 100 years ago in your department, or your department's 100th anniversary is coming up, please drop us a line for possible inclusion in "Rekindles" in an upcoming issue.
Jan. 2, 1897: NEW YORK CITY One of the most daring rescues in the history of the FDNY occurred at a fire at 94 Lexington Ave. The first-due unit, Ladder 7, had two men visible trapped at a top-floor window. Driver John Howe and Tillerman James Pearl raced from the truck and into the adjoining building. Howe climbed out the top-floor window with Pearl holding his leg and belt. He stretched across to the fire building and pulled a man from the fire room and passed him to Pearl. Howe reached across again and began removing another man in the same fashion. Before Howe could move back, a third man jumped out. Howe caught the man and was pulled completely from the window. Pearl, half out the window himself, held Howe by the legs as Howe gripped the two men. The three dangled, upside down, three stories above the street until a ladder could be placed.
Jan. 2, 1897: NASHVILLE, TN A major fire leaped from building to building near the public square. High winds hampered the efforts of exhausted firemen who started work on the blaze just after midnight.
Jan. 6, 1897: ROBERVAL, QUEBEC Seven nuns were killed by a fire in the convent of Our Lady of Lake Saint John. One sister was seriously burned as she went from floor to floor warning others of the fire.
Jan. 6, 1897: WEST DERRY, NH Flames destroyed the Derry Shoe Co. factory and spread to a home nearby. The contents of the factory produced extremely thick smoke that made firefighting very difficult.
Jan. 9, 1897: DANVILLE, VA A smoky fire destroyed a five-story brick building owned by the American Tobacco Co. Some 500,000 pounds of tobacco and much equipment also were lost.
Jan. 16, 1897: DALLAS Sixteen children lost their lives and nine were seriously injured during a fire in the Buckner Orphans' Home. Two hundred forty other children escaped the blaze, which destroyed the wood-frame building.
Jan. 17, 1897: NEW YORK CITY One of the most famous and beloved horses in the department was seriously injured while responding to a fire. Horse number 624, better known as "Baby," fell and seriously injured his hip as he pulled his rig to a box alarm on Greenwich Street. The dappled gray horse was so smart and good natured that he was allowed to wander around the firehouse. The men of Ladder 10 stood with tears in their eyes as the injured horse was taken away in the horse ambulance.
Jan. 26, 1897: CHICAGO One of the most stubborn blazes in the city's history was fought on the corner of Monroe and Fifth. Twenty engine companies were operating in the freezing cold weather when a wall of the six-story building collapsed on the firemen. Fourteen firemen were injured, two so seriously they were not expected to live.
Jan. 26, 1897: PHILADELPHIA An overheated oven in the cellar of a building on Market Street started a fire that spread to more than 60 structures. The first engine arrived three minutes after the alarm was transmitted but conditions would severely limit the firemen's effectiveness. The temperature was near zero and the fire was being driven by a strong wind. The first hoseline stretched toward the fire, burst and covered the entire area with ice within seconds. Thick smoke blew down into the street as the flames jumped from building to building and embers rained across the city. Firemen were able to save the famous general store of ex-Postmaster General John Wanamaker. Many firemen suffered minor injuries from the weather and falls on the ice.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION: Webster Hose, Hook & Ladder Company 3 in Ansonia, CT, was organized on Jan. 7, 1897. The company will mark its 100th anniversary, in part, by serving as host for the Connecticut State Fireman's Association convention and parade in September.
TIME CAPSULE
Jan. 27, 1967: Fire On The Launch Pad
To an astronaut, death could come in any number of ways: the explosion of an errant rocket; the incineration of a capsule during re-entry into the earth's atmosphere; or even a slow death in a malfunctioning craft unable to descend it just orbits, orbits, orbits.
The first three U.S. astronauts to die on duty, however, were motionless and earthbound when they were killed on a clear January evening. With helmet faceplates closed and suits pressurized, they reclined in a row of padded couches in their Apollo command module, running through the countdown of a simulated launch. They had been there for five hours and 31 minutes when fire exploded in the cabin. Within seconds, Lieutenant Colonel Virgil Grissom, 40, Lieutenant Colonel Edward White, 36, and Lieutenant Commander Roger Chaffee, 31, lay dead in the charred cockpit. Their multimillion-dollar vehicle was built to reach the moon 239,000 miles away; they never got closer than the top of the Saturn rocket, 218 feet above Launch Pad 34 at Cape Kennedy.
During the procedure, at about 6:31 P.M., a shortcircuit in the cabin caused electrical arcing that ignited normally fire-resistant plastics. The pressurized pure oxygen atmosphere of the cabin accelerated the fire conditions dramatically. The astronauts were trapped behind closed hatches and were unable to use the escape system because it was blocked by the gantry. Emergency crews rushed to reach them but were driven back by the dense smoke that poured from the cabin when the hatch was finally opened.
The accident caused NASA to review its fire safety practices and make future spacecraft more fire safe. With determination, space officials went forward toward the ultimate goal set by President John F. Kennedy, who had called for putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. His dream, and that of the three astronauts who gave their lives, came true on July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 landed on the moon.
Paul Hashagen
Compiled by Paul Hashagen
