2/22/1922 a Manitowoc, WI firefighter died after he was overcome by smoke while fighting a fire at the meat market, grocery store and residence 2205 Marshall Street, around midnight. He died from the effects without regaining consciousness. With other members of the company he responded to the alarm and went into the smoke-filled room to relieve one of the other men. He wore his mask and was fully dressed and equipped for fighting fire. Later he was missed and when the men searched for him, he was found lying on the floor in the room.
Death was due to suffocation. The fire was due to an electric light wire running into the place became crossed with a power current wire. The fire started in a
closet on the second floor where the switches are located. The fire alarm and telephone system were out of order necessitating a trip to station No. 2 to turn in the alarm and the delay gave the blaze a big start. When the department arrived on the scene, they found the house and store filled with a heavy smoke.”
2/22/1928 an Atlanta, GA firefighter died while directing operations at a small fire in a dwelling at 567 Formwalt Street, SW. He became severely overcome by smoke and gases and collapsed.
2/22/1940 a Chicago, IL firefighter died while fighting a fire at the Lamkin Leather Company at 1718 North Damen Avenue. “The fire started when a pot of wax boiled over and spread flames to containers of resin that then exploded. He was overcome by smoke and chemical fumes while on the third-floor of the building and collapsed. He was transported to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, but efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.”
2/22/1960 three Saint Louis, Missouri firefighter died while fighting a fire in a downtown three-story building, the building collapsed resulting in their deaths.
2/22/1969 a Bayonne, NJ firefighter died while working dwelling fire. “The members of Engine 7 were advised that a woman was trapped in her top-floor apartment. The members of the company made five attempts to reach the woman, but were pushed back each time by heavy heat and smoke. Later, as the members of Engine 7 were picking up their equipment, the firefighter suffered a fatal heart attack.”
2/22/2014 a Columbia, MO firefighter died “while working to evacuate students from a university residence apartment building, he died of injuries sustained when he became entangled in debris after the collapse of a portion of the building’s elevated walkway.
2/22/1973 Coopersburg, PA a gas explosion killed five and injured twenty-two others when workmen installing a sewer disturbed a gas line causing an explosion that leveled an apartment building about 10 miles south of Allentown.
2/22/1973 Elroy, TX a leaking gas pumping station explosion killed four and seriously burning four others shortly before midnight.
2/22/1961 Madrid Spectacle Frame Company fire killed twenty-four in Madrid, Spain.
2/22/1957 Mount Airy, NC a school fire killed one and injured many others (30) in the one-story brick 14-classroom elementary school with “400 terrified youngsters scrambled out of windows or dashed through doors as a lightning fast fire raged through their school.”
2/22/1955 Waterville (ME) Prep School was destroyed by fire when it “swept through 135-year-old Coburn Classical Institute’s classroom building destroying the three-story brick structure, scholastic records and equipment.”
2/22/1937 Quincy, CA a mine explosion killed six and injured five miners when a powder train was rammed by speeding ore car 700 feet underground.
2/22/1902 New York, NY a Park Avenue Hotel fire killed sixteen and injured about fifty at Park Avenue, between Thirty-Second and Thirty-Third Streets in Manhattan. Most of the dead were guests with rooms on the upper stories of the hotel or on the fifth floor, which had the greatest damage. The first three stories were untouched by the fire.