Today in Fire History 11/16
On 11/16/1957 in Niagara Falls, New York an early morning apartment fire killed seventeen, including thirteen children, in a three-story frame tenement structure, known as the Moonglow Hotel. The run-down and condemned served as a makeshift home for two large families and two single men who lived at the property. When the fire department arrived, it was impossible to enter; the upper portion of the building was fully involved. “The cause of the blaze was never released, but two days after the fire, the Associated Press reported that investigators initially said it was triggered by an explosion in an oil furnace. The property reportedly lacked heat, forcing tenants to use kerosene heaters; windows were nailed shut, and the hallways were crowded with debris. In March 1958, the landlord was convicted of first-degree manslaughter for culpable negligence in maintaining the building in violation of multiple housing laws,” and served about 18 months in prison.”
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On 11/16/1903 two Cleveland, Ohio firefighters died while operating at a major fire that destroyed an electric railway car barn. They were killed when they were caught under a collapsing wall. The wind-whipped fire destroyed 72 streetcars.
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On 11/16/1933 a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania firefighter from Engine 54 “died of smoke inhalation at Sun Ray Drug 801 North 63rd Street.”
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On 11/16/1940 three Fort William, Ontario, Canada firefighters died at a fire in the Mandarin Café. “Because of heavy fire conditions, a defensive attack was started. Around 1:00 a.m. A smoke explosion occurred, causing the building to collapse. One firefighter who was at the front door was buried under the hot rubble. The second firefighter who was operating a hoseline was hit in the chest with a large piece of masonry and hurled some 20 feet. The third, who was holding a ladder at the time, took the full impact of the wall. All three died from their injuries
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On 11/16/1952 a Flatlands, Brooklyn, New York (FDNY) firefighter “died from injuries he sustained while working at a fire.”
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On 11/16/1955 a Washington Township, Dayton, Ohio firefighter died “while responding to an alarm during a tornado. He was electrocuted when he walked into a downed high-tension wire.”
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On 11/16/1959 a firefighter died and two were injured after they were caught in a collapse during a five-alarm fire involving a taxpayer consisting of eight stores in Staten Island, New York. The firefighter’s body was found in the cellar of a shoe store. Rescue 1 was special-called, and two of the firefighters were removed from the rubble alive.
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On 11/16/1962 a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania firefighter “died from smoke inhalation at a fire at a beauty Parlor 6932 Castor Avenue.”
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On 11/16/1969 a Steelton, Pennsylvania firefighter died in a working fire involving a wood-frame structure, which was formerly a church during an exterior attack with numerous hose lines. “At the height of the fire, the weight of the large slate roof pushed out the rear and side fire-weakened walls and the building collapsed.” The firefighter “was pinned between the retaining wall and one of the collapsed walls, and was critically injured. It took rescuers a half-hour to free him and he was rushed to the hospital, where he died shortly after arrival.”
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On 11/16/2022 a morning condominium building “exploded and caught fire in Gaithersburg, Montgomery County, Maryland injuring as many as 12 people, including four children. The fire and explosion were reported around 8:40 a.m. at the Potomac Oaks condominium complex in the 800 block of Quince Orchard Boulevard. A second alarm was called as heavy fires were discovered upon arrival. "The building has sustained a significant explosion that resulted in a collapse," said Montgomery County Fire Chief. The fire chief said as many as 12 people were injured -- 10 were taken to hospitals, two of which were adults taken to a trauma center, four were adults and four were children who suffered "mild to moderate" injuries. Two others were treated at the scene and declined to be taken to a hospital. By the next morning, the fire chief said nine of the people taken to hospitals, including a 4-month-old child, had been released. At 2:00 p.m. the day of the incident, the fire chief said there was still a smoldering fire in the building and that Washington Gas shut off the gas supply to the affected buildings. The fire chief said there were no previous calls to this complex in the past week. The last call for a gas leak was made on September 22. The fire chief said all of the occupants of 828 have been accounted for and contacted. There remains one unit in 826 for which officials have yet to make contact with the occupant. The chief said it's too early to determine a cause or what contributed to the incident. "It was bad, just bad," said a resident who was among the witnesses who described feeling the explosion and fire. "It was really loud at one time. So, it was like when they dropped a dumpster. That's what it sounded like. But you could feel it like a tractor-trailer came through, that's what it felt like. Like, it was just a parade of tractor-trailers, that's what I felt. I didn't know what was going on," said a witness. "It felt like a bomb. I mean, you actually felt a shockwave. It wasn't just, you know, something was suddenly on fire and you heard a boom. You could feel it when it happened. It was, it was just crazy." Firefighters evacuated neighboring buildings after the collapse, and the Red Cross is assisting displaced residents. The Red Cross issued a statement, saying its trained volunteers are providing essential services that include food, water, financial resources, emotional support, and the replacement of medications, according to need.”
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On 11/16/2021 five people were killed as a blaze swept through a Suffolk County New York home. “The fire broke out at the three-story wood-frame home on East Second Street near East Avenue in Riverhead around 10:30 p.m. The five dead bodies were discovered inside the home after the fire was extinguished.”
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On 11/16/2016 three people were hurt, two critically, after a food truck caught fire on the George Washington University campus, in Washington D.C. in the 2100 block of H Street NW. All three were employees of the Falafel Bus (a converted school bus) run by the House of Falafel.
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On 11/16/2014 in La Porte, Texas four workers were killed during a hazardous chemical, methyl mercaptan, leak at the DuPont plant.
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On 11/16/2014 an early morning fire near Ohio University on Union Street in Athens, Ohio affected five buildings and displaced forty students who lived in apartments above the bars, restaurants, and stores. The fire “may have originated at the rear of a clothing store that was in the middle of the five damaged buildings.”
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On 11/16/1934 three died in a hardware store explosion and fire and numerous others, including women and children, were cut by flying glass, from plate glass windows over a three-block radius in Newberry, South Carolina. The blast is believed to have ignited a flammable liquid stored in the basement. The explosion blew out the rear of the two-story brick building.
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On 11/16/1916 two blocks of Drumright, Oklahoma were destroyed by an explosion and fire.
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On 11/16/1915 the Northwestern Mine explosion killed thirty-one near Ravensdale, Washington.
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On 11/16/1901 a boarding house was destroyed by fire in Eufaula, Alabama.
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On 11/16/1865 a train car containing 62 barrels of crude oil crashed in town resulting in a conflagration in Corry, Pennsylvania.
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On 11/16/1961 President Kennedy decided to increase military aid to Saigon.
On 11/16/1945 German war scientists were brought to the U.S. to work on rocket technology.
On 11/16/1863 Battle of Campbell Station, Tennessee near Knoxville, Union forces under General Ambrose Burnside held off Confederates under General James Longstreet.