On 9/22/1899 a Strathroy, Ontario, Canada firefighter “was trapped for over twenty minutes with other members after the rear wall fell on them at a barn fire at the corner of Kittredge Avenue and Caradoc Street. The other firefighters received minor injuries, but this firefighter died from his injuries, after being removed and taken to his mother’s house, where the doctor attended to his serious head injury.”
On 9/22/1902 a Boston, Massachusetts firefighter died after he “went to the roof of the 6-story building that was on fire and while up there encountered heavy smoke. He wasn’t able to see where he was going and stepped off the top of the roof and fell off the edge. Fifteen feet before the ground he hit a ladder and then continued to hit the ground below. Firefighters rushed to his aid and found him unconscious but still breathing. He was then rushed to the hospital and was found to have injuries that included a fractured hip and pelvis, a double fracture of the forearm, and probable internal injuries. He succumbed to his injuries early the next morning without ever regaining consciousness.”
On 9/22/1975 a Wayland, Massachusetts firefighter “died after suffering the effects of smoke inhalation.”
On 9/22/1981 two Chicago, Illinois firefighters died “during a fire at the Willoughby Tower on Michigan Avenue after they fell to their deaths down an open elevator shaft from the 25th-floor to an elevator that was stopped sixteen floors below. To reach the fire on the 25th floor, six firefighters had taken an elevator to the 24th floor of the building. They attempted to reach the 25th floor by stairs, but were forced to backtrack when they found that the door to the 25th floor was locked, but still cool to the touch. The firefighters returned to the elevator and upon reaching the 25th floor, the elevator doors jammed shut. After a fifteen-minute delay, the firefighters were able to open the elevator doors and reach the smoke-filled corridor on the 25th floor. They began crawling along the floor to find an escape without realizing that there was an open and empty elevator shaft directly across from the elevator they had exited. The fire had started in boxes of paper in this elevator and the elevator had become disconnected from its cables and fell sixteen floors before the friction-system brakes were activated. Unbeknownst to the other firefighters, one firefighter fell through this open elevator shaft shortly after the firefighters exited the other elevator. Once the five remaining firefighters had successfully escaped the heat and smoke by crawling into an open office and exiting onto the fire escape, they realized that one firefighter was missing. A second firefighter was the only firefighter who still had air in his self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) tank, he went back into the smoke-filled hallway to look for the missing firefighter, but he, too, fell down the open elevator shaft. After the fire was extinguished, search and rescue firefighters discovered the bodies of the two firefighters in the elevator shaft. Six other firefighters, including the four who had accompanied them, were hospitalized for burns and smoke inhalation.”
On 9/22/1904 Oakley, Kansas was destroyed by fire. No injuries were reported but 16 businesses were leveled.
On 9/22/1953 the second Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) chapter was formed in Los Angeles, California.
On 9/22/1993 an Amtrak train (the Sunset Limited) headed to Miami derailed near Mobile, Alabama, in a swampy area killing forty-seven, the accident one of the deadliest in Amtrak’s history, was caused by a negligent towboat operator and foggy conditions.