On 6/1/ 2008 a “massive, early morning fire at the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park and studio backlot in Universal City, California destroys a trove of irreplaceable recordings by some of the greatest musical artists in American history, thousands of archived digital and video film copies and King Kong Encounter, one of the park’s most popular attractions. The fire caused no serious injuries, but artists and others mourned the loss of cultural treasure. An investigation revealed the three-alarm fire began when a worker used a blowtorch to warm asphalt shingles. The worker left before checking if all spots had cooled. In 2019, in a story that shook the music industry, the New York Times reported that anywhere from 120,000 to 175,000 master recordings—including those by Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong Chuck Berry, and Aretha Franklin—were destroyed in the fire. Universal said the story exaggerated the extent of the damage. In 2020, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by musicians and estates against Universal that argued the company had been negligent in protecting their recordings.”
On 6/1/1873 a Louisville, Kentucky firefighter died while operating at a fire in the W. J. Ross and Sons building.
On 6/1/1887 a Manhattan, New York (FDNY) firefighter died while operating at a fire, he was killed after being struck by a bale of cotton, which had fallen from the eighth floor.
On 6/1/1900 two Foxboro, Massachusetts firefighters died while “operating at a general-alarm fire in a building, which housed town offices and a school, the flames quickly spread to the building’s tower, which contained a large bell. As firefighters began to descend the ladder that they were attacking the fire from, the tower suddenly collapsed, sending the bell crashing down on them. Two men were critically injured by the flaming debris and were taken to their homes, where they both died later that day of burns and crushing injuries. A third firefighter was critically injured and died June 6th as a result of injuries sustained.”
On 6/1/1903 a San Francisco, California firefighter died of injuries received through an accident at the Mechanic’s Pavilion fire.
On 6/1/1923 a Portland, Oregon firefighter died at a “house fire near the corner of Benton and Clackamas Streets. The fire had been extinguished by Engine 13’s crew and an overhaul of the scene had begun. A two-story brick chimney, which had become unstable during the fire, toppled, landing on his head. Even with his protective clothing, he sustained fatal injuries.”
On 6/1/1967 a Chicago, Illinois firefighter died “during a multi-structure fire near the intersection of 17th Street and South Racine Avenue. The fire started in a garage but quickly spread to two adjacent apartment buildings. After arriving on the scene, he was helping firefighters from Truck 5 place a ground ladder when the aluminum ladder hit high-tension wires. The firefighter was electrocuted and collapsed. He was taken to the University of Illinois Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.”
On 6/1/1968 two Lewistown, Pennsylvania firefighters were killed in an explosion of a burning hay silo. Twelve other firefighters were also injured.
On 6/1/1977 an Indianapolis, Indiana firefighter died “while fighting a residential fire in the 1100 block of South East Street on May 31, 1977. He died early the next day. A suspect was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder for setting the fire.”
On 6/1/2022 a firefighter was “killed and 13 other people injured in a fire at a breakfast restaurant in Changsha county, Central China’s Hunan Province on Wednesday morning. The diner caught fire and fire engines arrived at the scene quickly before the explosion, local media reported. The injured have been sent to a nearby hospital with the cause of the fire still under investigation.”
On 6/1/2009 there were no smoke alarms in the house that burned and claimed three lives, a 34-year-old man and his two sons, ages nine and four years old, in Hesperia, California.
On 6/1/1965 a coal mine explosion killed 236 workers at the Yamano mine near Fukuoka, Japan. “The tragic disaster might have been avoided if the operators of the mine had taken even the most basic safety precautions.”
On 6/1/1948 a coal-fueled power plant explosion killed thirty-three in Berlin, Germany.
On 6/1/1939 a two-story, eight-room, frame, makeshift school building in Barberton, Ohio was destroyed by an explosion that injured fifty-seven persons, three of them critically. A broken gas pipe nine feet outside of the structure allowed gas to migrate into the basement.
On 6/1/1924 a fire in a children’s three-story home killed twenty-three of the forty girls housed at the Hope Development School for sub-normal children in Playa del Rey, CA.
On 6/1/1921 a riot in Tulsa, Oklahoma left scores dead. “More than 1,000 homes and businesses were destroyed, while credible estimates of riot deaths range from 50 to 300. By the time the violence ended, the city had been placed under martial law, thousands of Tulsans were being held under armed guard, and the state’s second-largest African American community had been burned to the ground.”
On 6/1/1910 a fire wipes out six houses and the sawmill of the Oregon Lumber Company in the village of Inglis, Oregon about fifty miles down the Columbia River from Portland.
On 6/1/1906 the business section of Jefferson, Ohio was destroyed by fire.
On 6/1/1897 an insane asylum where nearly 1,000 patients were confined in Columbia, South Carolina was destroyed by fire a few minutes after 1:00 p.m. that was discovered in the laundry of the State Insane Asylum
On 6/1/1822 Keene, New Hampshire a tavern fire started at about 11:00 p.m. in the large three-story Stage Tavern House.