Aug. 6, 1902: NEW YORK CITY - A smoky cellar fire believed to have been started by a cigarette broke out at about 8:30 A.M. in the commercial building at 38 Bond St. Battalion Chief John Binns and two engine companies pushed into the cellar and were rendered unconscious by the thick smoke. They were pulled out by comrades and resuscitated in the street.
Aug. 7, 1902: NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ - An overturned oil lamp in the engine room of the ferryboat New Brunswick set fire to the boat just after 10 P.M. The flames spread so rapidly below decks that the captain had little choice but to run the boat aground. Lifeboats were lowered and 16 passengers and 23 members of the crew rowed ashore. Two racehorses being carried on board were pushed over the side to avoid the flames. Both swam toward shore - one escaped unharmed, the other became stuck in a bog and had to be rescued.
Aug. 10, 1902: SAN ANGELO, TX - An early-morning fire in the Landon Hotel took the lives of seven people, including the wife of the owner. When the fire was discovered, the hotel clerk attempted to wake the guests by going room to room, but was hampered by the smoke and flames. To warn the more than 75 sleeping tenants he then began to discharge firearms. Several people jumped from upper-floor windows into blankets. The fire spread to nearby barns and threatened the entire town.
Aug. 11, 1902: PEORIA, IL - A "fire-bug" was believed to be responsible for the ignition of five building fires in one day. Firemen did an outstanding job of controlling one fire that had the potential to extend to a large portion of the city. Police arrested a 20-year-old man and charged him with arson and moved him to the county jail to prevent his possible lynching by angry citizens.
Aug. 20, 1902: WILMINGTON, DE - A steam explosion in a pulp mill killed at least nine men and left as many as five more missing and believed dead. The huge explosion prompted the response of the entire fire department as spreading flames were fought and collapsed buildings were searched. The dangerous work was accomplished as quickly as possible.
Aug. 26, 1902: BROOKLYN, NY - A large black cat knocked an oil lamp off a mantlepiece, igniting a quick-moving fire in the three-story wood structure. Firemen made several daring rescues as the flames poured through the roof and spread to adjacent buildings. Five people were removed from a raging top floor by a human chain of firemen. The cat was unharmed.
Aug. 30, 1902: PORT JERVIS, NY - A fire, believed to be spontaneous combustion, swept through a large livery stable and continued down a row of wood buildings. Seventeen people perished as the fire consumed a huge barn, then spread to a grocery store, a house and a paint store. A terrific explosion in the paint store further fed the flames, which extended to two additional homes and a hotel before firemen could bring things under control.
Time Capsule
AUG. 9, 1902: JERSEY CITY, NJ - FIREMEN ESCAPE WAREHOUSE COLLAPSE
An immense warehouse directly behind the Statue of Liberty was the scene of a fire of "mysterious origin." The six-story National Storage Company building contained thousands of bales of Manila hemp, jute and cotton, and several hundred barrels of glucose. The fire was well advanced when it was discovered at 1 P.M. The horse-drawn apparatus of the closest firehouse had to respond more than a mile, over roads that were nearly impassable, to reach the blazing structure. A nearby tugboat crew offered its services with little result. Eight additional tugs and the FDNY fireboat William Strong were summoned.
Firemen fastened ropes to shuttered windows that were pulled open by tugs to allow water to be played on the flames. Eight handlines, tugboat streams and a water tower were directed into the blazing building. Two hours after the initial alarm, a huge steel water tank crashed through the fire-weakened roof and struck an interior wall, causing its collapse. Firemen scattered as bricks and flaming debris rained from the crumbling wall. One of the department's senior men, Richard Cooper of Engine 3, a Civil War veteran, escaped sure death by a matter of inches as the wall crashed down around him.
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.
