2/18/1860 two Boston, Massachusetts firefighters “were killed by falling walls from a building occupied by Manning and Glover, bedding merchants, at 42 Merchants Row, Downtown. Four-alarms were transmitted from Box District 1 – Station 1, during a howling snowstorm. The collapse took place about 1:30 a.m., and the fire was believed to have been set.”
2/18/1901 an Oakland, CA firefighter died of smoke inhalation while operating at a fire.
2/18/1932 two Kansas City, Missouri died “shortly after arriving at a reported fire in the Kansas-Missouri grain elevator, an explosion and structural collapse occurred injuring and trapping numerous firefighters. One firefighter died in the collapse. The second died from trauma he received when he jumped from the elevator to escape the fire the next day.”
2/18/1936 a Framingham, MA firefighter “died from smoke inhalation.”
2/18/1968 a Brooklyn, New York (FDNY) firefighter died from injuries sustained while operating at a four-alarm fire.
2/18/1993 a Granite Shoals, Texas firefighter died after being engaged in ventilation and overhaul at a residential structure fire.
2/18/2004 a Carthage, MO firefighter died while fighting a structure fire involving a large bar, Bronc Busters Restaurant and Lounge near Diamond, Missouri. “Once on-scene, firefighters observed heavy smoke but could not locate the source of the fire. The firefighter entered the structure with two other firefighters on an attack line to search for the seat of the fire. Initially, conditions were clear with only light smoke and good visibility. Conditions worsened rapidly, and visibility in the structure was reduced to zero. Firefighters and the IC on the exterior of the structure noted structural failure and ordered all firefighters out of the building. Air horns were sounded to signal the evacuation, and the handline that had been advanced by the firefighter was pulled from the building. Firefighters noticed that one firefighter was missing and initiated searches of the building. Approximately 56 minutes after his initial entry, the missing firefighter was discovered approximately 25 feet from the entrance.”
2/18/ 2011 a Los Angeles, CA firefighter died from “injuries at an area hospital following a partial roof collapse at a structure fire that injured an additional five firefighters in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California.”
2/18/2018 an “overnight fire destroyed a former motel that was undergoing construction in Henrietta, NY. The sprinklers and smoke alarms were shutoff at the former Country Inn and Suites on West Henrietta Road and that delayed notification of the fire. The fire, called in about 4:00 a.m., engulfed the two-story building that was being converted into an assisted living facility. Part of the structure collapsed during the fire. Units from 13 departments responded to three-alarm fire with over 100 firefighters.”
2/18/2016 a house fire around 5:37 a.m. on N Baylen Street and W Scott Street in Pensacola, FL claimed the lives of four children.
2/18/2015 an explosion and fire at Exxon Mobil Refinery in Torrance, near Los Angeles, CA injured four shortly before 9:00 a.m.
2/18/2003 an arsonist set a gasoline-filled container inside a subway train in Daegu, South Korea on fire. The blaze destroyed the six-car train, and spread to another train in the station, 198 were killed and nearly 150 injured at 9:53 a.m. as train 1079 entered the Daegu’s Jungango Station.
2/18/1990 a natural gas explosion and fire in the Hagerstown (MD) Super 8 Motel resulted in the deaths of four guests in the 62-room three-story wood frame structure at approximately 5:10 a.m. “Guests reported the smell of gas to the hotel desk clerk. After confirming that there was a gas leak, the desk clerk called the gas company and attempted to stop the gas that was escaping from a damaged water heater valve. Neither the clerk nor the gas company dispatcher called the fire department, and the building evacuation alarm was not activated until after the explosion.”
2/18/1948 three men were burned, one critically at the Sherwin-Williams Company linseed oil plant explosion and three-alarm fire near the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, OH while a shift of twenty-one men had just begun work. The explosion occurred near the trimming machine on the first floor and quickly to the second floor and into the linseed meals bins. Fire department operations “brought out 15 companies and a fireboat.”
2/18/1948 a LaPorte, IN explosion and fire in a third-floor apartment killed three and injured three “caused by the use of kerosene to rekindle a fire in the home.”
2/18/1948 a concrete and steel roof collapse killed four and injured twelve at an automobile sales building in Kingsport, TN.
2/18/1945 the 32-room Jefferson Hotel in Waterville, ME burned and killed one of the twenty-five guests.
2/18/1935 a natural gas control station explosion and fire in the Potter County gas field at Andrews Settlement near Coudersport, PA killed two and injured one around 3:00 p.m.
2/18/1930 a naphtha plant explosion and fire at the Elizabeth, NJ Standard Oil refinery killed ten and injured sixty, several critically. The explosion occurred after a high-pressure naphtha line broke and the fumes were ignited by portable forges in the new one-story building housing the alcohol plant on the 100-acre reservation just before 4:00 p.m.
2/18/1923 the Manhattan State Hospital fire killed twenty-five, on Ward’s Island in NY, a state-run psychiatric hospital located in the Harlem River that was built in 1848 and became an insane asylum 1863.
2/18/1914 the Oaksmere School in New Rochelle, NY, a large frame building, was destroyed by fire that started in in the boiler room at 11:00 a.m.
2/18/1912 the Hart-Parr Traction Engine Company in Charles City, Iowa was damaged by fire that started from the iron foundry core oven.
2/18/1902 the Kellogg, or Seventh Day Adventist Sanitarium and Hospital in Battle Creek, MI was destroyed by fire. Several firefighters were injured. The fire started in the bathroom of the sanitarium building, probably from the furnace; all 400 sleeping inmates escaped.
2/18/1902 the Louisville (KY) Bolt & Iron Company was destroyed by fire at Second and L Streets that started in the heading room of the mills when a “pipe carrying crude oil to the furnaces exploded and the oil coming into contact with the molten metal at once began to blaze fiercely.” Firefighters were “handicapped by the frozen water plugs and insufficient supply of water.”
2/18/1889 the Park Central Hotel, 54 High Street Hartford, CT was heavily damaged by a steam boiler explosion. Twenty-two people lost their lives, and many more were severely injured.
2/18/1882 a morning fire from an overheated stove in Haverhill, north of Boston, MA left eighty-two shoe and leather firms destroyed and over 2,000 are unemployed.