On 1/7/1950 a fire destroyed Saint Elizabeth’s, the women’s psychiatric ward at the Mercy Hospital, killing forty-one people and injuring thirty-one in Davenport, Iowa. Sixty-five women and three men were in the building most sleeping when the fire started at 2:00 a.m. in the … [Read more...]
FIREFIGHTER HISTORY 1/6
On 1/6/1993 after six days of firefighting, “a final foam attack was made on the burning oil tank at the Steuart Petroleum Plant in Jacksonville, Florida. The tank was extinguished within an hour, making history in the process as the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department became … [Read more...]
FIREFIGHTER HISTORY 1/5
On 1/5/2022 eight children were among the twelve dead following a row house fire at a Philadelphia Housing Authority Apartments in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. “The ages of the victims range from 2 to 33 years old. Eight people evacuated the building … [Read more...]
FIREFIGHTER HISTORY 1/4
On 1/4/1885 seventeen patients died when the Eastern Illinois Insane Hospital in Kankakee burned at about 4:00 a.m. The fire was “drawn through the network of flues, along the halls, and stairways to every portion of the doomed” south infirmary building. “On a frigid Sunday, a … [Read more...]
FIREFIGHTER HISTORY 1/3
On 1/3/1940 a frigid winter morning just before dawn, about 5:45 a.m. an explosion and fire at the modest three-story Marlborough Apartment Hotel at Third Avenue South and Fifteenth Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota killed nineteen that housed more than 120 residents. Believed to … [Read more...]
FIREFIGHTER HISTORY 1/2
On 1/2/1984 just before 11:38 a.m., the primary electrical power system failed at The Westin Hotel, Boston, Massachusetts, in the sub-basement of the 38-story high-rise tower. A rapid succession of power failures and a series of explosions filled the space with “heavy smoke” … [Read more...]
FIREFIGHTER HISTORY 1/1
Wishing you a happy, prosperous, and safe New Year… As we meet new opportunities let us not forget the lessons of the past. On 1/1/1853 the first practical fire engine was presented to Cincinnati, Ohio becoming the first city in the world to use a steam fire engine, named … [Read more...]