12/21/1882 a Buffalo, NY firefighter died on 12/23/1882 from injuries he received at a fire at 337-339 Washington Street in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser Printing Company. “The first alarm was turned in at 4:49 o’clock. The fast-moving fire devoured the top floors of the building quickly. Wind whipped flames threatened neighboring buildings as firefighters tried to stretch hose lines for a defensive fire fight. A second and third alarm were struck bringing many companies to the scene quickly. Around 7 o’clock, a wall collapse sent bricks flying to the ground below. A firefighter was struck and knocked senseless. He was taken to the Washington Hotel where five doctors checked his injuries. A bad gash was observed, but no immediate signs of fracture we’re observed. He was taken to the General Hospital where it was discovered he had a fractured skull and was likely to die. He lived for over 24 hours, but was pronounced deceased at the Hospital around 3 o’clock a.m. on December 23rd from his injuries.”
12/21/1897 a Gramercy/Flatiron area, Manhattan, New York (FDNY) firefighter was killed from “smoke suffocation” while operating at 426 E 14th Street fire.
12/21/1903 a Manhattan, New York (FDNY) firefighter died when he was caught in a wall collapse at a five-alarm fire which destroyed the factory and warehouse of H. Hermann Lumber Company at 368 Broome Street.
12/21/1903 a Little Italy, Manhattan, New York (FDNY) firefighter “died from injuries he sustained when a wall collapsed on him.”
12/21/1904 a Philadelphia, PA firefighter “died of smoke inhalation received on December 19th at a 4-4-4 fire.”
12/21/1915 two Boston, Massachusetts firefighters were killed in a building collapse at 347-357 Cambridge Street, three-alarm fire. Box 1356, (Cambridge & Charles Streets) was sounded at 2:57 a.m. They both men died of multiple injuries.
12/21/1958 a California Department of Forestry, CALFIRE firefighter “died from the injuries he sustained after being electrocuted while operating at a fire.”
12/21/1963 a Mooresville, IN firefighter “died from the injuries he sustained while operating at a fire at the Murry Key Farm. He was caught in a collapse of a chimney along with two other firemen that were seriously injured.”
12/21/1967 a Danbury, CT firefighter “died after suffering a fatal heart attack while operating at a house fire on Barnum Road. It was determined that the fire had been intentionally set, one of a string of suspicious fires that plagued the city at the time.”
12/21/1980 a Little Rock, AR firefighter “was severely injured on September 28, 1963, at the Cook Auto Fire at 923 Main Street, due to a wall collapse. He died from the complications from his many injuries December 21, 1980. He was one of two firefighters to die because of this fire.”
12/21/2014 Murraygate, Dundee Scotland a rapidly developing fire rips through Christmas Shop as a large number of festive season shoppers watched.
12/21/1951the Orient #2 coal mine exploded that killed 119 near West Frankfort, IL.
12/21/1899 a fire destroyed Buchtel College in Akron, OH including the main building, all the laboratories, library, men’s and women’s dormitories in a rapidly spreading fire that started about 5:00 p.m.
12/21/1886 a boiler explosion killed a laborer near Cleveland, OH. The boiler was a dilapidated condition in to use sawing timber for the new central viaduct; it burst under a pressure of 80 pounds.
12/21/1988 Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland killing all 259 passengers and 11 residents an hour after departure from London in route to New York from a bomb that had been hidden inside an audio cassette player that detonated inside the cargo area when the plane was at an altitude of 31,000 feet. Authorities believe Islamic terrorists placed the bomb on the plane at the low-security airport in Malta, and it was transferred to Flight 103 in Frankfurt, Germany.