8/7/1929 an Appleton, WI firefighter died while operating at the Service Bakery fire, 833 West College Avenue, where a kettle of grease was burning in the basement. “The firefighter entered the basement with two other firefighters. The two firefighters poured a tank of chemicals into the burning kettle. A cover was placed over the top of the kettle, but the grease kept burning inside. Using their spanner hooks, the firefighters attempted to lift the kettle, but it overbalanced and spilled the grease over the three firefighters. The two firefighters were on the far side of the kettle and had to dash through a wall of flames to get to the steps and the open air. Another firefighter, who attempted to run from the cellar to call for more help, slipped on the grease and fell into the flames, suffering burns about the neck and hands. In the meantime, the firefighter had emerged from the basement with his clothing burning. One of the firefighters attempted to tear off the burning garments. When that failed, the firefighter removed his own rubber coat and wrapped it about him. Two other firefighters arrived with a blanket, and the flames were finally put out. The firefighter died from the burns he suffered.”
8/7/1932 two Chicago, IL “firefighters were killed when a four-story wall collapsed on them while they were fighting a fire at the Herrmann Warehouse on Goose Island in Chicago. Both firefighters with Engine Company No. 30, were killed operating in the warehouse which was weakened by a previous fire from May 23, 1932.The two firefighters, along with two other firefighters, were operating hose lines on the third-floor fire escapes of the warehouse when the fourth-floor collapsed and forced the warehouse wall outward. Both firefighters fell with the wall and died on the scene when they were buried under tons of debris. Two firefighters stationed above them on the fourth-floor level, also fell with the wall, but they were thrown clear of the debris and survived the fall. Following the fire, the Chicago Fire Department reported that they had responded to 42 calls to the warehouse between the May 23 fire and the August 7 fire. Baled cotton that had initially caught fire on May 23 continued to smolder throughout the summer, but Joseph Herrmann, the warehouse owner, had ignored multiple orders from the city to demolish the dangerous portions of the warehouse. Herrmann was found guilty of criminal negligence by a coroner’s jury investigating the blaze and faced a grand jury on charges of manslaughter.”
8/7/1950 a Memphis, TN firefighter died “while operating at a fire involving a meat packing plant, fifteen firefighters became trapped when a section of the roof collapsed onto a loading platform where the men were manning hose lines. The firefighter became pinned under several, heavy wooden timbers and was in respiratory arrest when found. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Another firefighter suffered critical injuries, which forced his retirement. He never fully recovered and died May 6th, 1961 as a result of injuries sustained.”
8/7/1959 a Roseburg, Oregon firefighter “was killed instantly when a truck full of dynamite and ammonium nitrate/fuel oil (AN/FO) exploded at Oak and Pine Streets. The August 7, 1959 incident is referred to as ‘The Blast’.”
8/7/1995 a New Kensington, Pennsylvania firefighter “was killed when he became trapped while trying to escape from a house fire during a flashover.”
8/7/2013 a powerful explosion from a gas leak ripped through a ten-story apartment building setting it on fire in Rosario, Argentina that left twenty-one dead and sixty-six injured. “People within a two-kilometer radius of the explosion, including 11 schools, were evacuated, as the gas supply to the building could not be cut off.”
8/7/2013, a fire damaged Nairobi’s (Kenya) International Airport that started at a very central part of the airport and made access difficult. The airport was closed as authorities contained the fire.
8/7/2010 large wildfires devastate Russia as pollution hits record levels.
8/7/1956 during transport seven army ammunition trucks containing dynamite exploded in Cali, Colombia; about 1200 died. The trucks fully loaded with dynamite departed the Colombian city of Buenaventura headed toward Bogota and stopped in Cali. Just after midnight, all seven trucks suddenly exploded in a quick chain reaction.
8/7/1907 Marshalsea, PA an “insane asylum” fire killed one.
8/7/1998 the U.S. embassies bombed in Kenya and Tanzania killed at least two-hundred.
8/7/1782 during the American Revolution General Washington created the Purple Heart in Newburgh, N.Y. The “Badge for Military Merit,” a purple, heart-shaped piece of silk, edged with a narrow binding of silver, with the word Merit stitched across the face in silver was designated as the “Purple Heart”. It was awarded to only three soldiers during the Revolutionary War; the award was lost until 1927, in 1932, on Washington’s 200th birthday, the U.S. War Department announced the creation of the “Order of the Purple Heart”