FIREFIGHTER KILLED WHILE BATTLING THREE-ALARM FIRE IN SUB-CELLAR OF MERCANTILE LOFT BUILDING – NOHO, MANHATTAN, NEW YORK – JULY 31, 1948

Firefighter Killed While Battling Three-Alarm Fire in Sub-Cellar of Mercantile Loft Building – NoHo, Manhattan, New York – July 31, 1948

On July 31, 1948, FDNY Fireman Joseph J. Brecht of Engine 5 was killed after being overcome by smoke and fumes while operating at a fire in the sub-cellar of a six-story mercantile loft building in the NoHo section of Lower Manhattan. Fireman Brecht suffered smoke inhalation and fell from a portable ladder placed down an elevator shaft to access the sub-cellar. He then drowned in shoulder-height water that had accumulated in the sub-cellar from the operating fire sprinkler system. The fumes in the below grade space overcame an additional 23 firefighters, two seriously enough to require hospitalization. Rescue 2 was special called to help treat injured firefighters, while Rescue 1 was engaged in the job of locating and removing injured firefighters from the sub-cellar. Fire investigators believed the fire had been smoldering all night in the closed building filling the lower levels with toxic gases. The cause of the fire which involved combustible fabrics and hat-making supplies stored in the sub-cellar and basement was never determined.

The structure involved in the incident is a six-story with basement and sub-cellar Type III Ordinary construction mercantile loft located at 3-5 Washington Place on the northeast corner of Mercer Street. Known as the Washington Place Building, it is located two blocks east of Washington Square Park in the NoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan. Built in 1900, the building measures 50 feet wide, 90 feet deep, and 81 feet tall and has a flat roof with a four-foot-tall parapet wall topped by a masonry cornice on Sides Alpha and Delta. A 6,000-gallon gravity water tank was on the roof. Interior ceiling heights of the mercantile loft were 24 feet on the first floor, 20 feet on the second floor, and 16 feet on the remaining upper floors. The structure had a total 28,572 square feet of floor space and was occupied by two firms on the lower floors. The Beatty Page Fabrics Company was on the ground floor while the basement and sub-cellar were used as storage space by Elishewitz & Sons, Inc., a straw hat manufacturer. Two enclosed freight elevators, one at the Alpha/Bravo corner and one on Side Bravo near the rear, served the upper floors and the basement and sub-cellar. A boiler room was located beneath the sidewalk on Side Bravo. Only the basement was covered by a fire sprinkler system with fire department connections available on Sides Alpha and Bravo. Side Alpha faced 70-foot-wide Washington Place with curbside parking and a wide sidewalk. Side Bravo faced 50-foot-wide Mercer Street also with curbside parking and a wide sidewalk. A large 12-story with basement and sub-cellar “fireproof” steel, iron, and brick loft building with a full fire sprinkler system was on Exposures Charlie and Delta. Numerous fire hydrants fed by a grid of 12-inch water mains were available on the block. The nearest fire alarm call box was at the eastern end of the block at Broadway.

Note: A mercantile loft-style building is a structure that was originally built for commercial purposes such as warehouses, garment factories and other manufacturing uses. The first floor was usually occupied by a mercantile use while the upper floors contained manufacturing and light industrial uses. In New York City, they were often built using cast iron structural elements including cast iron columns to support the upper floors and cast iron decorative front facades that provided large arched windows to display merchandise at street level. Built with high ceilings and supported by large wooden beams with cast iron columns, loft buildings provided ample floor space for machinery and materials in manufacturing occupancies, and the display of merchandise in mercantile shops. In recent years, many loft buildings have been repurposed into residential apartments and condominiums. They are usually renovated leaving much of the interior brick walls exposed, and the cast iron columns, cast iron facades, and high ceilings retained for aesthetic purposes.

Manhattan is geographically the smallest and most densely populated of the five boroughs that make up the City of New York. The borough of 22.83 square miles of land area had a population of 1,694,251 according to the 2020 U.S. census. Manhattan has been described as the cultural, financial, media, and entertainment capital of the world. NoHo, short for “North of Houston Street” (as contrasted with SoHo), is a primarily residential neighborhood in Lower Manhattan bounded by Mercer Street to the west, the Bowery to the east, 9th Street to the north, and Houston Street to the south. Previously a residential enclave for the wealthy, the neighborhood became mainly a manufacturing district by the 1880s. Terra cotta and brick loft buildings were among the new buildings being constructed in this time, and construction of such buildings continued into the 1890s. After the Second World War, manufacturing companies moved out of New York City and to the suburbs. By the 1950s, these spaces were rented to artists and small theater companies. The artists had to go through extensive litigation to live and work in these spaces. By 1960, there were more artist residents than businesses in these loft spaces. The neighborhood was revitalized beginning in the late 1960s and 1970s. As artists began to rent lofts in the neighborhood in the 1970s and 1980s, the name NoHo came into use to distinguish the area from nearby SoHo. Previously, the area now comprising NoHo, SoHo, and eastern Tribeca was known as the warehouse district. The art movement of the 1970s and the preservation movements of the 1990s and 2000s also helped to revitalize the area.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission has declared most of the 125-building area a historic district. The NoHo Historic District, which comprises approximately 125 buildings, represents the period of New York City’s commercial history from the early 1850s to the 1910s, when this section prospered as one of its major retail and wholesale dry goods centers. Acclaimed architects were commissioned to design ornate store and loft buildings in popular architectural styles, providing a rich fabric against which shoppers promenaded, looked at display windows, and bought goods, and merchants sold products.

The Borough of Manhattan is protected by the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) which consists of 17,321 career firefighters, EMS personnel and support staff that serve a population of about 8 million residents in the city of approximately 321 square miles. The department staffs 254 fire stations within 14 divisions in 53 battalions operating 197 engine companies, 143 ladder companies, 8 squad companies, 5 rescue companies, 450 ambulances, 1 HazMat company, 1 USAR company, 10 wildland units and 3 fireboats. The FDNY is the largest municipal fire department in the United States, and the second largest in the world after the Tokyo Fire Department. Call volume in Fiscal Year 2023 was more than 1.8 million calls for fire, EMS, and rescue services of which 23,901 were structural fires.

The NoHo neighborhood is protected by units from the FDNY First Division:

• Engine 33/Ladder 9 – 42 Great Jones Street – 0.5 miles from the fire building.
• Ladder 3/Battalion 6 – 103 East 13th Street – 0.5 miles from the fire building.
• Squad 1 – 132 West 10th Street -0.7 miles from the fire building.
• Engine 5 – 340 East 14th Street – 0.9 miles from the fire building.
• Engine 24/Ladder 5/Battalion 2 – 227 Sixth Avenue – 1 mile from the fire building.

Area weather conditions on the afternoon of the incident included an air temperature of 85 degrees F with a relative humidity of 69% with west-southwest winds to 10 mph gusting to 21 mph under fair skies. Note: Research by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has shown wind speeds on the order of 10 to 20 mph are sufficient to create wind-driven fire conditions in a structure with an uncontrolled flow path (Madrzykowski and Kerber 2009). The high temperatures, high humidity level and windy conditions likely had an impact on fire development and the outcome of the incident.

Shortly after noon on Saturday, July 31, 1948, a heavy smoke condition was reported in a mercantile loft building located a 3-5 Washington Place in the NoHo neighborhood of Manhattan. A box alarm was transmitted and first arriving Engine 5, Engine 33, and Ladder 9 found a deep-seated smoky fire in the basement and sub-cellar of the six-story building. Hoselines were stretched into building as firemen entered to locate the seat of the below-grade fire. Due to the heavy smoke conditions on the lower floors, the members were obliged to work in short relays. Note: During this era, FDNY engine and ladder companies were not issued breathing apparatus. Only the rescue companies were issued filter-type breathing apparatus and smoke helmets.

Additional alarms were sounded as firemen were having difficulty penetrating to the lower levels of the building. Firefighters were directed by Assistant Chief Edward G. Conway and First Deputy Fire Commissioner James J, Moran to rip up the sidewalk pavement and gratings in front of the building and use smoke ejectors to force fresh air into the below grade areas.

The members of first arriving Engines 5 and 33 suffered the most from smoke poisoning as many were overcome working in the basement and sub-cellar areas. As the members of Rescue 1, who were equipped with gas masks, were engaged in the job of locating and removing injured firefighters from the sub-cellar, Rescue 2 was special called to help treat the more than twenty firemen felled by the fumes. The high temperatures and humidity levels of the summer day also took a toll on the members. Most were able to return to work after being treated, but two members were injured seriously enough that they were hospitalized. Lieutenant William Rushmeir and Fireman Sylvester J. Bayer of Engine 5 were later listed in good condition after treatment at Bellevue Hospital.

Fireman Joseph J. Brecht of Engine 5 was later found unconscious and floating in water up to his shoulders by members searching the sub-cellar. They believed that he had fallen from a ladder lowered into the elevator shaft after being overcome by the thick, acrid smoke. He was removed from the building and the members of Rescue 2 worked on him for more than an hour with an aspirator before he was pronounced dead at 3 p.m. His death was ascribed either to smoke poisoning or drowning.

The fire went to three alarms before being brought under control by 2 p.m., almost two hours after the first alarm was given. No civilians were injured during the incident but a total of 23 firemen were treated for smoke inhalation. The flames were contained to the basement, sub-cellar and the flooring of the ground floor. Chief Fire Marshal Thomas P. Brophy said that the fire had been smoldering for hours before it was discovered and may have started the previous night. Burning hats, fabrics and cardboard boxes stored in the basement and sub-cellar caused the heavy smoke conditions. The fabric store and the contents of the stored materials in the basement and sub-cellar were considerably damaged. The cause of the fire was undetermined.

Fireman Joseph J. Brecht, age 35, was a ten-year member of the FDNY assigned to Engine 5. He was appointed to the Fire Department on August 1, 1938, and would have celebrated his tenth anniversary with the Fire Department on the day after his death. He received last rites of the Roman Catholic Church at the scene by the Reverend Daniel J. Fant of the American National Shrine of St. Anne, Twelfth Street near Third Avenue. Fellow firemen said he had planned to be married the next month. His funeral was held at the Church of St. Leonard in Brooklyn with a large delegation of members from the Fire Department and city officials in attendance. Brecht was survived by his mother, Mrs. Mary Brecht, with whom he lived with in Brooklyn.

The name of Firemen Joseph J. Brecht has been honored at the New York Firemen’s Memorial on Riverside Drive at 100th Street in Manhattan, New York. The memorial honors the members of the NYFD and the FDNY who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty. Built in 1913 on a hillside facing the Hudson River, the memorial comprises a grand staircase, a balustraded plaza, a fountain basin, and the central monument. Made of Knoxville marble, the monument is a sarcophagus-like structure with a massive bronze bas-relief of horses drawing an engine to a fire. To the south and north are allegorical sculpture groups representing “Duty” and “Sacrifice.”

The name of Firemen Joseph J. Brecht has been inscribed on the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Empire State Park on the grounds of the State Capitol in Albany. The memorial honors the men and women of the fire service who have perished in the line of duty in the Empire State. The memorial is located between the Justice Building and The Egg in a park-like area bordered by Norway maple trees. Dedicated in 1998, it consists of a ten-foot-high bronze statue of two firefighters rescuing an injured comrade backed by a granite wall fifty-four feet long and fifteen feet high inscribed with the names of New York state firefighters who gave their lives to save others. The memorial is placed on a plaza of charcoal and red brick pavers forming a Maltese Cross. As of October 2025, there are 2,818 names on the wall. The earliest name on the wall is from the year 1811.

The Washington Place Building was repaired after the fatal fire and today is used by New York University. There is no memorial marker at the site.

The building is located one block east of the infamous Asch Building at Washington Place and Greene Street where 146 garment workers were trapped and killed by a fire on the upper floors of the ten-story loft building housing the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in 1911.

Commentary:

Per FDNY Deputy Chief Vincent Dunn (ret.) in Building Construction: The Firefighter’s Battlespace:

“Fires occurring in below-grade areas such as basements, cellars, and sub-cellars continue to be among the most dangerous and challenging incidents that firefighters may face. A basement is defined in most building codes as a below-grade area with a floor height one half or less below street level. This is important because in many jurisdictions, a basement is considered the first floor and, by law, may be habitable. A cellar is a below-grade area with a floor height of more than one half below street level. A sub-cellar is a floor area that is below a cellar. People are not allowed to work or sleep in a below-grade cellar unless a code-approved egress window or exit has been installed. Sub-cellars are the most dangerous below-grade areas. Historically, sub-cellars were built in 19th and 20th century commercial buildings to add space for utility and HVAC equipment or created when street levels were raised.

A fire officer must know that a cellar and sub-cellar are the most hazardous spaces in a building and must be able to identify the below-grade spaces to give an accurate size-up. Some dangerous construction features of sub-cellars include limited access, often with only one sub-standard, narrow, wooden stair leading to the sub-cellar, and no windows to vent the smoke and heat of a fire. When a fire occurs in a sub-cellar, it will often be a delayed alarm because the area is not continuously occupied. Also, because there are limited ventilation portals, there can be the possibility for a smoke explosion or backdraft to occur. Toxic gases, such as carbon monoxide, quickly build up during a sub-cellar fire, and limited drainage allows water accumulation from hose streams or sprinklers, so a cellar or sub-cellar can become a watery grave for a firefighter knocked unconscious or overcome by smoke or heat.

The use of high-expansion foam is the most effective defensive firefighting plan for a below-grade area. A below-grade area will contain high-expansion foam within its walls and no plywood barriers will be needed to confine the foam to the fire area. High-expansion foam may not fully extinguish the fire, but it will subdue the flame and heat, which can provide firefighters time to evacuate upper floors. In some instances, it can reduce flame and heat so a fire company can then advance down to the cellar with a hoseline to extinguish the fire.”

This incident shares similarities with another incident involving a fire in a sub-cellar in a luxury hotel in Manhattan:

On August 1, 1932, a fire and explosion in a paint storage room in a sub-cellar of the Ritz Towers luxury residential hotel in Midtown Manhattan claimed the lives of eight FDNY firefighters and injured 31 others. The firefighters were attempting to advance hoselines into the sub-cellar from a sidewalk access shaft way and from an interior basement stairway. Two powerful explosions occurred instantly killing two firefighters and severely injuring several others. The concussions tossed several firefighters and police officers into the street. A second alarm was transmitted, and rescue companies were special called to assist in the rescue and recovery of several firefighters from the basement. The cause of the fire and explosions was never officially established, but it was presumed that flammable vapors had escaped from the paint storage area and found a source of ignition. The tragic event will forever be known as the Ritz Tower Explosion.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/192218352449074/permalink/1287407416263490/

Unfortunately, there are no photos of the Washington Place incident available. We have attached a detail from the 1920 Sanborn fire insurance map of the block showing the configuration of the fire building and the surrounding exposures.

We have attached the link to an article published by John Norman in Fire Engineering magazine titled “Below-grade Fires: Firefighter Traps”: https://www.fireengineering.com/leadership/belowgrade-fires-firefighter-traps/

Thanks to multiple media sources, and especially Chief Vincent Dunn, for the content of this article.

Honor the service of Fireman Joseph J. Brecht by touring a commercial building equipped with a sub-cellar in your local response district and by discussing the hazards of below-grade firefighting with your crew members today.

Remember Fallen Brothers.

Get Out There And Know Your Local!!!