On 6/4/1904 fifteen people were killed and six injured in a fire after an explosion occurred in the eleven-story Corning Distillery (Mammoth Distillery) whiskey warehouse in Peoria, Illinois. “The fire spread quickly to nearby cattle pens in the stockyards. Fifteen lives were lost and three thousand heads of cattle were burned to death. The distillery suffered the loss of 130,000 gallons of spirits estimated to be $4,000,000. Firefighters had trouble getting near the buildings because of the strong wind. The explosion occurred in the 11-story warehouse of the Corning Distillery. Ten men were buried beneath the ruins and burned to death, and six others were seriously injured. The fire spread to the stockyards district, where a dozen large cattle barns filled with cattle for market were burned… The warehouse, containing in the neighborhood of 30,000 barrels of whiskey, soon was a seething cauldron. The warehouse, crumbling, set fire to the smaller structures, while whiskey from the burning barrels flooded the street and ran in streams toward the river. In a short time, there was a foot of whiskey in the cattle pens east of the warehouse.”
On 6/4/1900 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.” (Posted on 6/1/2023 in error)
On 6/4/1911 a Louisville, Kentucky firefighter “was injured at a fire at Beechmont on June 3, 1911, and died on June 4, 1911, as a result of injuries he sustained.”
On 6/4/1940 a Chicago, Illinois firefighter died while fighting a fire at the Silverman Jobbing Company building, 1420 South Halsted Street. “Nearly one-third of the department’s apparatus responded to the blaze. He and other firefighters were operating hose lines from the roof of a neighboring one-story building when he was overcome by smoke and fumes from burning celluloid. He was carried from the roof and transported to St. Luke’s Hospital, but efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.”
On 6/4/1945 a Saint Paul, Minnesota firefighter “was crushed by a heavy commercial sized refrigerator that fell on him, pinning him face down in several feet of water killing him instantly when the collapse of the 2nd and 3rd floors happened while overhauling at a four-alarm fire in A. W. Partridge warehouse, 19 E. Kellogg.”
On 6/4/1955 a Queens, New York (FDNY) firefighter “died from the effects of severe smoke inhalation sustained May 6th, while operating at a three-alarm cellar fire.”
On 6/4/1965 two Omaha, Nebraska firefighters “died after suffering the effects of smoke inhalation at the Swanson Office building fire, at 8401 Dodge Street.”
On 6/4/1971 three Waco, Haralson County, Georgia firefighters were killed in a dynamite explosion on Highway 78. Four other people were also killed and twenty-seven were injured in the explosion of the truck laden with 20,000 lbs. of dynamite, which caught fire after colliding with a car near Waco, Georgia. The blast demolished the truck and the car along with a fire truck and ambulance that were first on the scene.
On 6/4/1975 a Boston, Massachusetts firefighter “died of injuries he received at a fire in a vacant house at 38 Jones Avenue, Box 3535, (Jones Avenue & Mascot Street) on May 11, 1975.”
On 6/4/2022 at least 41 people were killed, “including the 9 firefighters, and hundreds more suffered burns in the fire and subsequent explosions, which sent a booming noise over the landscape and shattered windows of nearby buildings. Among those killed were residents who approached the site to capture the fire with their phones. The number increased as at least 9 firefighters were killed in the line of duty and 15 others seriously injured in that fire that broke out at a container depot at Sitakunda in Chattogram. According to the latest information, 183 firefighters from 25 units of their fire service worked to control the fire. The poorly regulated chemical-filled containers were still exploding on Sunday as the firefighters keep working to bring it under control…the army had also joined the mission. Drone footage showed thick columns of smoke and rows of burnt-out containers. The disaster reflected the haphazard safety standards that continue to dog Bangladesh, particularly its lucrative garment export industry. The depot held clothing ready for export as well as drums filled with hydrogen peroxide, a chemical compound often used to bleach and dye fabric. Those overseeing the depot had improperly stored and labeled the containers of hydrogen peroxide, said an assistant director at the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defense. While hydrogen peroxide itself is not flammable, the chemical can produce large quantities of oxygen and “could be explosive if it comes into contact with extreme heat or fire. One report is that as soon as the firefighters entered the depot on Saturday they unwittingly doused the hydrogen peroxide with water, setting off an explosive reaction that sent “a container flying more than 500 feet”. It was unclear how many people were at the site when the fire began Saturday evening, but several employees of the depot said around 500 people would have been working the night shift.”
On 6/4/1979 a North Hungarian Chemical Works fire killed thirteen in Sajobabony, Hungary.
On 6/4/1942 in Stockton, California an explosion and fire at Army Plant killed eleven and injured nine.
On 6/4/1912 a Waukesha, Wisconsin Hotel was destroyed by fire.
On 6/4/1905 a fire started from an electric light wire in the Exposition Building, Milwaukee, Wisconsin; 1500 people safely escape. “The interior had been decorated with thousands of yards of flimsy drapery and in a twinkling, the flames spread throughout the interior.”
On 6/4/1900 the Foxboro, Massachusetts Town Hall was destroyed by a fire that started a little before 5:00 a.m. in the attic of the town hall, one person was killed, and one was injured.
On 6/4/1894 five downtown blocks that included thirty-five homes were destroyed by fire, which left two dead in Ottumwa, Iowa.
On 6/4/1888 the three-story brick Mundine Hotel fire left two dead that started around 4:00 a.m. in Rockdale, Texas
On 6/4/1892 Oil City and Titusville, Pennsylvania was destroyed by an oil tank explosion and fire; 130 died.
On 6/4/1873 the town of River Point, Rohde Island conflagration began.
6/4/1850 Empire Engine Company No 1 was organized in San Francisco, California on the south side of Sacramento Street between Kearney and California Streets.