Today in Fire History 10/25

10/25/1900 a Detroit, MI firefighter “died from the injuries he sustained after a wall had collapsed.”

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10/25/1918 a Staten Island, New York (FDNY) firefighter “while operating at a ship fire, inhaled poisonous gas and suffered a fatal heart attack after returning to quarters.”

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10/25/1922 a Portland, Oregon firefighter died at Washington High School. “The fire, which was purposely set, caused over $400,000 damage (in 1922). It was a spectacular blaze that could be seen across the east side of the city. The fire, which went to a 4th-alarm, brought both on and off-duty firefighters from across the city. Engine 12 was assigned to the southeast corner of the building. Just after rendering their hose line operational, the Chief realized the wall of the building was about to collapse. He ordered the crew of Engine 12 to evacuate their position. While other crew members moved away parallel to the falling wall, the firefighter moved perpendicular. He was not fast enough to escape the falling stone and brick as it collapsed upon him. He had died instantly.

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10/25/1931 a Chicago, IL firefighter died “while fighting a fire on South Parkway. The fire originally started when a still exploded. The firefighter and four other firefighters were operating inside the building when a second explosion occurred. The firefighters were struck by a wall of flames. All five firefighters were burned, but one died from his injuries later that day at Michael Reese Hospital.”

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10/25/1938 a Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York (FDNY) firefighter “was killed when he was overcome by smoke, after he led his men into a cellar at 2984 W. 3rd Street, Coney Island, during a rubbish fire. He had been directing operations on the blaze for only 5 minutes when he collapsed.”

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10/25/1941 a Hartford, CT firefighter “died from the injuries he sustained while operating at Box 316.”

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10/25/1944 a Manhattan, New York (FDNY) firefighter “died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning and burns sustained while operating at a four-alarm fire. The four-alarm blaze was fed by drums of olive oil and destroyed the six-story building.”

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10/25/1949 a Boston, MA firefighter “died from inhalation of smoke and gases, while working at Box 1461, (Washington & West Streets). The fire was at 2230 hours on October 24, 1949, at 59 Temple Place, Downtown.”

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10/25/1952 a Chicago, IL firefighter “collapsed during a hotel fire, shortly after rescuing several civilians from the burning building. He was taken to Ravenswood hospital where he was pronounced dead due to smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion. The fire, located at the Argyle Hotel at 1967 W. Argyle Street, was started by an employee of the hotel who was angry about a domestic dispute with his girlfriend, a hotel resident. The employee later confessed to starting the blaze by setting two fires (one by igniting a stack of papers on the second floor of the hotel and the other by setting fire to a mattress in the second-floor hallway) and was charged with arson and murder by arson.”

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10/251987 around 8:45 a.m. three firefighters were killed and three injured during a multi-department, live-fire training exercise involving a vacant, two-story, wood-frame farmhouse in Milford, Michigan. “An unusual training exercise involving simulated arson sets and live firefighting evolutions in an abandoned farmhouse resulted in the deaths of three volunteer firefighters and injuries to three others. The incident occurred in Milford Township, Michigan, a rural area approximately 30 miles from Detroit, on October 25, 1987. Four area volunteer departments participated in the exercise and the fatalities included members of three of the departments. The drill was arranged and directed by the Milford Fire Department, with the other departments participating as guests. It was intended to familiarize the firefighters with the evidence that would result from arson fires. To achieve this objective, several different arson sets were prepared in the two-story abandoned structure, using flammable and combustible liquids as accelerants. The plan was to ignite all of the arson sets and then extinguish the fires, allowing the trainees to examine the evidence before and after the fact. Some of the trainees would gain added experience in interior structural firefighting and the use of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). A tanker shuttle was to be used to supply water for the drill, providing an opportunity for all four departments to practice this method, and members of an Explorer Scout group were on hand to practice operating exterior handlines. The plan was to reignite the house and burn it to the ground after completion of the interior operations and examination of the evidence. Exterior 2-?-inch hoselines were positioned to protect an exposed new house under construction on the same property. The deaths and injuries occurred because of an unanticipated flashover on the ground floor that trapped six members on the upper level. Three of those members escaped, but three were killed as the fire rapidly extended to the second floor. All three deaths were attributed to inhalation of products of combustion, although all were wearing full protective clothing and SCBA.”

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10/25/2005 an Altoona, Pennsylvania firefighter and Pennsylvania State Fire Academy Instructor died during a live-fire training exercise. The class was completing the final burn on Sunday, October 23, 2005. He was serving as an instructor, assigned to start the basement fire. He had checked the fire and then gone to the first floor to see whether the students and their instructor were ready to enter the basement. The instructor stated that they were ready. He re-entered the basement via the interior stairs to add 2 skids to the fire. The students, with their instructor, entered the basement. They moved to the doorway of the burn room, extinguished the fire, and then vented the smoke and heat out through the exterior stairway. Upon returning to the burn room, they found the instructor inside the burn room. They radioed a Mayday and called for a Rapid Intervention Team (RlT) to respond to the exterior stairs. The student instructors removed him to the stairs, and the RIT then moved him to the street. The ALS ambulance, assigned to the training grounds during the class, and a paramedic instructor met the RIT as they exited the building. He was treated and transported to Lewistown Hospital. The paramedic on scene requested a helicopter to meet the ambulance at the hospital to provide transportation to a burn facility. The firefighter was flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital burn unit. He had received burns on 85 percent of his body and to his respiratory system. He was pronounced dead on Tuesday, October 25, 2005, at 1107hrs. The cause of his collapse is unknown; the autopsy did not reveal any underlying health conditions that might have led to a collapse.”

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10/25/2003 near San Bernadino, CA "the Old Fire" was set by Rickie Lee Fowler & Martin Valdez Jr. near Old Waterman Canyon Road and burned for nine days in the San Bernardino Mountains, the fire destroyed 1,000 homes, scorched 91,281 acres, caused $42 million in damage, six people died of stress-related heart attacks.

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10/25/1995 an occupied college dormitory in Franklin, Massachusetts fire originated in a second-floor room and spread through the second and third floors of the three-story, wood frame, unsprinklered structure built around the turn of the century. There were no fatalities or injuries. The building was equipped with a fire alarm system; individual sleeping rooms were equipped with heat detectors and system smoke detectors in the hallways.

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10/25/1986 in Minneapolis, MN eight people died in a duplex fire in the 1200 block of Knox Avenue N.

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10/25/1964 Orange, TX two workers were killed and seventeen injured at six petrochemical plants after a series of gas explosions rocked two of a string of six plants. “Ruptures in pipelines carrying highly volatile gas apparently caused the blasts, but company officials said they were unrelated. Neither firm shares any facilities.” “The first explosion ripped the Spencer Chemical Co. plant after a leak developed in a line carrying highly volatile ethylene gas under a pressure of 2,500 pounds per square inch.” “About three hours later, a series of perhaps five explosions injured three men at the nearby Allied Chemical Company, when an automatic safety valve blew off on a line carrying oxide or ethylene gas.”

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10/25/1960 the Metropolitan Store fire killed ten in Windsor, ON.

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10/25/1915 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania a fire at Union Paper Box Company, 207-209 Sandusky St. on the city's North Side left thirteen dead and twenty injured after the fire broke out in baled hay, straw, and feed on the first floor. “The building had been deemed fire trap.”

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10/25/1901 Philadelphia, PA an eight-story building was destroyed by a fire that leaves eighteen dead. The buildings at 1219 and 1221 Market St, occupied by upholsterers and furniture dealers, and an adjacent three-story building occupied by small merchantmen. The origin of the may have started from an explosion of naphtha or gasoline in the basement.

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10/25/1994 Susan Smith reports a false carjacking to cover the murder of her two small children.

10/25/1944, the first time the Japanese deployed kamikaze "divine wind" suicide bombers were used against American warships during the Battle of the Leyte Gulf.

10/25/1864 the Civil War Battle of Mine Creek.

10/25/1854 The Charge of the Light Brigade, a charge of British light cavalry led by Lord Cardigan, against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava in the Crimean War. British forces had intended to send the Light Brigade to prevent the Russians from recapturing guns from overrun Turkish positions. However, miscommunication in the chain of command, and the Light Brigade was instead sent on a frontal assault against a different artillery battery resulting in very high British casualties and no decisive gains.

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10/25/1995 seven students died and several others were injured in Fox River Grove, Illinois as a Crystal Lake school bus filled with high school students, stopped with three and a half feet of the bus left on the railroad crossing when train number 624 headed into downtown Chicago, collided with the bus.