On 9/18/1926 two Philadelphia, Pennsylvania firefighters died “while operating at a five-alarm fire at Freihofer Baking Co. at 19th & Indiana Avenue, they were killed when they were caught under a collapsing wall.” “Firefighters had responded to a box alarm in the sprawling commercial bakery complex that occupied almost two city blocks. First arriving Engine 50 and Truck 12 found in fire in progress in the bake house of the vast complex. As a dozen members entered the smoke and flame-filled delivery room, an explosion rocked the plant causing the walls and roof to collapse. Several firefighters were blown out of the building by the force of the blast. More than twenty firefighters were trapped under tons of smoking debris. Eleven firefighters were seriously injured and had to be dug out of the rubble. The large mixed construction plant was located on a two-block site at North 19th Street and West Indiana Avenue. The large coal-fired baking ovens were located in a two-story brick bake house that featured cast iron columns on a concrete floor with steel trusses supporting a wood sheathed roof. The bake house, which measured 400-feet-long and 120-feet deep, had a raised clerestory roof with windows on Sides Bravo and Delta, four 100-foot-tall brick chimneys, and an attached wood frame coal storage house. The bake house was on the corner of North 19th Street and West Clearfield Street with a rail siding on the Clearfield Street end of the building. The bake house was adjoined by a complex of mixed fireproof and brick and joist two to five story buildings that contained various processing areas including mixing, shipping, packing, and warehousing spaces. A separate cake bakery was located at the corner of North 20th Street and West Clearfield Avenue. Across North 20th Street was a group of brick and joist buildings that housed the delivery wagons, stable, and grain and hay storage areas. Across West Clearfield Avenue was the two-story brick and joist steel plant of the Standard Pressed Steel Company. The bakery complex was not equipped with an automatic fire alarm or an automatic fire sprinkler system. There were two fire hydrants at opposite corners at North 20th and West Clearfield streets fed from a six-inch main and a manual fire alarm box was located at the same corner.”
On 9/18/2021 approximately 75 dogs “died in a fire at the Ponderosa Pet Resort in Georgetown, Texas. The City of Georgetown confirmed all the animals involved were dogs. Twenty-five firefighters responded to the fire after the department received multiple 911 calls of flames at the resort at approximately 10:56 p.m. on Saturday. Crews arrived on the scene within 4.5 minutes and discovered heavy fire and smoke. Crews gained access to the building and were able to open some ventilation to try to control some of the smoke. However, they were unable to save any of the dogs inside the building, there were no humans inside.
On 9/18/1945 an aircraft hangar fire at the Naval Air Station Richmond (Florida) started after being devastated by a hurricane, with 123 mph winds. A hangar caught fire, from a short circuit (ground fault) as winds drove flames horizontally, eventually igniting all three hangars. The Navy had purchased the 2,107-acre site in 1941 and constructed a blimp base to protect Florida area shipping from German submarines. The land where Naval Air Station Richmond was located is now Zoo Miami and the Gold Coast Railroad Museum.
On 9/18/1872 in Hillsboro, Texas the Hill County Courthouse was destroyed by an incendiary fire.