9/6/1896 the Yore's Opera House in Benton Harbor, MI was destroyed by fire, twelve firefighters died. “Sometime around midnight the large four-story brick building of Yore's Opera House started to burn. Before firefighters could arrive, the fire built in ferocity and the building … [Read more...]

9/5/1926 a movie theater fire killed fifty in rural village of Dromcollogher, Ireland. The only exit to temporary cinema in the upstairs loft of the hardware store was blocked by the projector set up on a table and the reels were placed beside it. Candles used as lighting, were … [Read more...]

9/4/1894 the first fog nozzle for fighting fire was patented. A fog nozzle break water flowing through it into “tiny” droplets, creating more surface area absorbing the heat & creating steam. The A. J. Morse company made a brass 2-½” “fire boat type nozzle and stand” with … [Read more...]

9/3/1991 the Imperial Foods Chicken processing plant fire killed twenty-five in Hamlet, NC.  Twenty-five people were killed and fifty-four injured in a fire that trapped the occupants behind locked fire doors after a hydraulic line failure caused a fire. “The intense fire quickly … [Read more...]

9/2/1975 the 1st reported Learn Not to Burn® PSA started in Jamaica Plain, MA & Muskegon, MI. 9/2/1888 seven Baltimore, MD firefighters were killed and two badly injured in one of the largest fires and the greatest tragedies. “The first alarm at 4:24 a.m., from box 526, … [Read more...]

9/1/1972 The Blue Bird Café and the Wagon Wheel, a country and western bar, fire in Montreal, Canada killed thirty-seven, a result of arson at the nightclub where more than 200 people were celebrating the Labor Day weekend. Three excessively intoxicated young men were refused … [Read more...]

8/31/1883 a Chicago, IL firefighter died from injuries he received on August 28, 1883, when he was fatally injured fighting a fire on Blair Street. He fell off a ladder during firefighting operations. 8/31/1871 a Boston, MA firefighter “died of the injuries he sustained after … [Read more...]

8/30/1885 a Manhattan, New York (FDNY) firefighter “was killed when he was caught under a collapsing wall at the Gardner Holmes Chair Factory on East 61st. Street.” 8/30/1975 Philadelphia, PA firefighter “died of burns that resulted from Golf Oil Refinery fire on August 17, … [Read more...]

8/29/1922 a Holyoke, MA firefighter “died after he was overcome and had collapsed while operating at the Parson Paper Company fire.” 8/29/1927 a Bronx, New York (FDNY) firefighter died at “an unfinished building fire at 213th Street and White Plains Avenue. A scaffold and work … [Read more...]

8/28/1905 a Chicago, IL firefighter died “while fighting a barn fire at 5238 North Clark Street. Engine 79 was the first fire company on the scene, and the firefighter rushed into the burning barn after spectators mistakenly informed him that the barn foreman’s family was trapped … [Read more...]