6/1/1900 two Foxboro, MA 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.”
6/1/1903 a San Francisco, CA firefighter died of injuries received through an accident at the Mechanic’s Pavilion fire.
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 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.”
6/1/1977 an Indianapolis, Indiana firefighter died “while fighting a residential fire in the 1100 block of South East Streeton May 31, 1977. He died early the next day. A suspect was arrested and charged with First-Degree Murder for setting the fire.”
6/1/1967 a Chicago, IL 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 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.”
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, CA.
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.”
6/1/1948 a coal-fueled power plant explosion killed thirty-three in Berlin, Germany.
6/1/1939 Barberton, OH a two-story, eight-room, frame, makeshift school building was destroyed by explosion that injured fifty-seven persons, three of them critically. A broken gas pipe 9-feet outside of the structure allowed gas to migrate into the basement.
6/1/1924 Playa del Rey, CA 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.
6/1/1921 a riot in Tulsa, OK left sixty-one 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.”
6/1/1910 a fire wipes out six houses and the sawmill of the Oregon Lumber Company in the village of Inglis, OR about fifty miles down the Columbia River from Portland.
6/1/1906 the business section of Jefferson, OH was destroyed by fire.
6/1/1897 an insane asylum where nearly 1,000 patients were confined in Columbia, SC was destroyed by fire a few minutes after 1:00 p.m. that was discovered in the laundry of the State Insane Asylum
6/1/1822 Keene, NH a tavern fire started about 11:00 p.m. in the large three-story Stage-Tavern-House.