Today in Fire History 1/16

On 1/16/1967 the McCormick Place Hall in Chicago, Illinois was destroyed by a fire and a security guard was killed during the National Housewares Manufacturers Association Exhibit. “McCormick Place was the largest convention center in North America consisting of four interconnected buildings and one indoor arena sited on and near Lake Michigan, about 2 miles (3.2 km) south of downtown.” “The original McCormick Place was completed in 1960 on a lakefront site south of Chicago’s Loop. The main 320,000-square-foot exhibition hall was virtually a windowless building, with three levels of exhibit and support spaces, and a 5,000-seat theater at the south end. The lower two levels were constructed of concrete. The top level, which contained the main exhibition space, was shielded from the elements by a series of long-span steel trusses, with 210 feet between columns and an 80-foot cantilever at each end. The underside of the primary structural members was 37 feet above the concrete slab floor. Columns were protected to a height of 20 feet by spray-applied fiber and encased in lath and gypsum vermiculite plaster. The fire occurred at 2:00 a.m. on the morning that the National Housewares Manufacturers Association show was going to open. The exhibitions, arranged in 1,250 booths, had already been installed and filled the upper two levels of the convention center with displays constructed of an array of combustible materials. Investigators determined the fire began as an electrical fire in a single exhibit booth. Convention center janitors initially tried to extinguish the fire themselves, but within a half-hour of the fire’s discovery, five alarms had been called. Five of the seven McCormick Place fire hydrants were shut off, hampering the immediate firefighting efforts. “Firefighters wasted time trying to thaw four of seven hydrants before discovering they actually weren't frozen, they just weren't hooked up. Contractors building the interchange of the Stevenson Expressway and Lake Shore Drive had disconnected them. Firefighters drew water from the lake; the city's three fireboats also pumped water onto the fire. "That fire was out of control when the first units arrived." The heat of the fire was so intense that the roof structure began to fail only an hour after the blaze began. It took the Chicago Fire Department almost eight hours to extinguish the fire. “On July 31, 1967, seven months after the fire, the official investigation report was released. Led by Rolf H. Jensen, professor of fire protection engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology, the investigation team concluded that not only was there a lack of sprinklers and working fire hydrants, but the building’s construction was unable to withstand the fire regardless of the severity.”

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On 1/16/1972 the 75-year-old, three-story, frame Pennsylvania House Hotel fire killed thirteen including a family of seven, and only two were able to escape in Tyrone, Pennsylvania. The building served as a residence for the owner (and family) as well as a combination residential-transient hotel. The fire started in a closet between the bar and hotel lobby from an overloaded electrical circuit. The open stair, non-fire-stopped walls, and lack of a fire detection system allowed the fire to spread. The fire extended destroying two adjoining frame buildings and damaging two brick structures. “In the middle of a cold winter night, tragedy struck in Tyrone Borough with a fire downtown. The fire was reported at 5:30 a.m., followed by the sounding of the general alarm at the Municipal Building. All three fire companies in town at the time responded: Citizens, the Hookies, and Neptune. The building was already engulfed in flames and three other area fire departments quickly responded to help: Excelsior from Bellwood, Tipton, and Warrior Mark-Franklin. Just two men in the building escaped. One was rescued from the fire escape by firefighters, the other had jumped out his window. The Tyrone Hospital treated more than 30 people for smoke inhalation, bruising, or frostbite, including the two survivors, people in buildings nearby, and volunteer firefighters. Battling the blaze was just the beginning of the tragedy, as the subzero temperatures and wind quickly froze the water into a thick layer of ice. The fire was deemed to be under control at 12:30 p.m. But after the fire was out and the debris settled, volunteers would have to begin the difficult task of recovering the victims from what had become a slippery, frozen tomb. While battling the blaze, volunteers had seen some of the victims but were unable to reach them due to the ice and debris. The recovery effort began on the morning of Monday, January 17th. A temporary morgue was set up at the then National Guard Armory on Logan Ave On Thursday, firefighters completed sifting through the debris. By Friday, the cause of the fire was determined to be that of a sump pump, which had overtaxed the electrical lines leading to the fuse box in the lobby.”

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On1/16/1864 a Manhattan, New York firefighter died while operating at a fire involving an extensive mixed property. He was killed instantly when he was caught under a collapsing wall. Another firefighter, who had just emerged from the building with two small children, narrowly escaped death when the wall just missed him.

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On 1/16/1912 a Boston, Massachusetts firefighter died at “a four-alarm fire, which started in the basement, rapidly spread via the elevator shafts throughout a five-story brick, fully occupied hotel, and destroyed the historic building. Upon seeing the involvement of the building on arrival, and the enormity of the rescue problem, additional alarms were struck in rapid succession. Firefighters led scores of trapped occupants to safety down interior stairways until the rapidly spreading fire made them untenable. With half of the hotel's 200 occupants still in the burning structure, firefighters, assisted by a group of battleship sailors in the nearby harbor, raised numerous ladders and removed the remaining patrons. Within 30 minutes, the building was totally involved in the fire and was spreading to two other hotels. More rescues were made by firefighters via ladders at these two structures.” The firefighter was killed when he fell four floors onto a picket fence.

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On 1/16/1918 a Manhattan, New York (FDNY) firefighter died while “operating at a three-alarm fire in a six-story brick storage warehouse, he was caught in the collapse of the first floor into the cellar. He managed to find his way to a window, only to have his escape blocked by iron bars. He was found 48 hours later in the cellar, still clinging to bars that had blocked his way. He was wrapped in a block of ice and apparently froze to death. The rest of his company barely escaped with their lives in the collapse; however, several other firefighters were trapped and were extricated by the members of Rescue 1.”

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On 1/16/1921 a Stratford, Canada firefighter died from injuries he received fighting a fire. “On January 7, 1921, at 2:12 a.m. a police constable noticed smoke coming from the 2nd-floor window of Classic City Bakery on Ontario Street. Upon arrival, firefighters were confronted with a well-involved 2nd-floor fire of a 3-story building. Lines were advanced up ladders. During the operation, his ladder slipped on the icy edge. He tried to grab and hold onto the eaves, but due to the icy condition, he fell 20 feet. In extreme pain, he still managed to crawl and shut down his unmanned nozzle. He was then taken to the hospital, where his condition deteriorated, and he died from his injuries.”

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On 1/16/1929 a Binghamton, New York firefighter “died after being overcome by smoke at a fire at the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company at 218 Clinton Street.”

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On 1/16/1948 two Cleveland, Ohio firefighters were killed when they were caught under a collapsing wall while operating at a fire.

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On 1/16/1967 a Springfield, Illinois firefighter died while fighting a lumberyard fire. “Around 10:30 p.m., the Springfield Fire Department received an alarm for a fire at the Springfield Builder’s Supply Company located at 19th and Mason Streets. The west wall of the burning warehouse collapsed as he was leading a hoseline, and he and four other firefighters were buried under the burning lumber and other debris.”

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On 1/16/1991 a Los Angeles County, California firefighter “died after being on a respirator for a week after he was nearly crushed by a facade that fell on him and five other firefighters as they fought a fire at a mini-mall. He was pinned by the debris for approximately 20 minutes and was not breathing when rescuers pulled him free. Investigators ruled that the fire was an arson and that his death was a homicide.”

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On 1/16/2020 two Glendale, California firefighters were injured after a floor collapsed at a two-story apartment building fire around 2:50 p.m. “When the first fire unit arrived on the scene, they reported smoke showing and victims trapped on the second floor. The fire was located in the lower portion of the structure with heavy smoke throughout the first and second floors. It would later be determined that the building also had a basement involved with fire. Firefighters rescued six civilians, some via ground ladders. In the course of the firefight, two firefighters fell through the first floor and into the basement and a mayday was sounded. They were rescued quickly and suffered only non-life-threatening injuries. The structure involved in the incident was a two-story Type V conventional wood frame center hall apartment building built-in 1928. The stucco exterior building was originally constructed with eight living units. Four living units per floor had been subdivided to house several occupants per unit. The Interior finish was plaster and lath on walls and ceilings. The structure had a conventional flat roof with a 2-to-3-foot cockloft. The building had a partial basement.?Two open stairwells were located on the Alpha and Charlie Sides and the individual apartment units did not have fire doors fronting on the interior center hallway. The building was not equipped with fire sprinklers but had smoke detectors present. Similar apartment houses were located on Exposures Bravo and Delta.”

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On 1/16/2014 more than twenty structures were destroyed in a Southern California wildfire, the fire erupted before 6:00 a.m. on January 16th in the Angeles National Forest when Santa Ana winds hit a campfire, some 3,700 people from Glendora and Azusa were ordered to leave their homes at the height of the fire.

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On 1/16/2012 the biggest cypress tree, known as the Senator, stood in Spring Hammock near Longwood Florida and was destroyed by fire. Over 3,500 years old the tree measured 118 feet tall, shortened from 165 feet after a 1925 hurricane, with a circumference of 17-?' and a diameter of 425" it contained 3,781 cubic feet of wood.

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On 1/16/1997 a bomb exploded outside an abortion clinic in suburban Atlanta, Georgia at Centennial Park. An hour later, while responders were on the scene, a 2nd bomb went off near a large trash bin, injuring seven. A nail-laden bomb was used, and authorities were targeted. Five days later, in Atlanta, a nail-laden bomb exploded near the patio area of a crowded gay and lesbian nightclub, injuring five people.

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On 1/16/1985 the Merrymount Nursing Home in Quincy, Massachusetts was successfully evacuated of all 24 patients in sub-freezing temperatures as a concealed space fire spread smoke throughout the structure. Smoke was detected by the fire alarm system alerting building occupants and notifying the local fire department.

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On 1/16/1981 a fire at the Holiday Inn in Kearney, Nebraska, injured twenty-two. The masonry and poured concrete building with some frame construction between guest rooms and corridors had open stairways at the end and middle of each wing; the interior finishes of ?” plywood on ?” furring strips over masonry units. A local alarm system was installed but did not automatically notify the fire department and the evacuation alarm sounding devices were located at the end and middle of each guest room wing. “Except for the lack of fatalities, the fire was nearly a duplication of conditions at the Holiday Inn fire that killed ten people and injured eighty-two others in Cambridge, Ohio on July 31, 1979, and the ten fatality Holiday Inn fire in Greece, New York, on November 26, 1978.”

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On 1/16/1972 the 75-year-old, three-story, frame Pennsylvania House Hotel fire killed thirteen including a family of seven, and only two were able to escape in Tyrone, Pennsylvania. The building served as a residence for the owner (and family) as well as a combination residential-transient hotel. The fire started in a closet between the bar and hotel lobby from an overloaded electrical circuit. The open stair, non-fire-stopped walls, and lack of a fire detection system allowed the fire to spread. The fire extended destroying two adjoining frame buildings and damaging two brick structures. “In the middle of a cold winter night, tragedy struck in Tyrone Borough with a fire downtown. The fire was reported at 5:30 a.m., followed by the sounding of the general alarm at the Municipal Building. All three fire companies in town at the time responded: Citizens, the Hookies, and Neptune. The building was already engulfed in flames and three other area fire departments quickly responded to help: Excelsior from Bellwood, Tipton, and Warrior Mark-Franklin. Just two men in the building escaped. One was rescued from the fire escape by firefighters, the other had jumped out his window. The Tyrone Hospital treated more than 30 people for smoke inhalation, bruising, or frostbite, including the two survivors, people in buildings nearby, and volunteer firefighters. Battling the blaze was just the beginning of the tragedy, as the subzero temperatures and wind quickly froze the water into a thick layer of ice. The fire was deemed to be under control at 12:30 p.m. But after the fire was out and the debris settled, volunteers would have to begin the difficult task of recovering the victims from what had become a slippery, frozen tomb. While battling the blaze, volunteers had seen some of the victims but were unable to reach them due to the ice and debris. The recovery effort began on the morning of Monday, January 17th. A temporary morgue was set up at the then National Guard Armory on Logan Ave On Thursday, firefighters completed sifting through the debris. By Friday, the cause of the fire was determined to be that of a sump pump, which had overtaxed the electrical lines leading to the fuse box in the lobby.”

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On 1/16/1922 the Nye Beach Natatorium, an amusement resort, in Newport, Oregon was destroyed by fire.

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On 1/16/1916 an early morning fire at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland destroyed the William Smith Hall. Many of the archives including handwritten documents by George Washington were consumed.

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On 1/16/1908 the girls’ dormitory at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio was destroyed by fire.

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On 1/16/1915 a fire started from defective electric insulation and injured two of the dozen persons registered at Franklin House (hotel) in Franklin, New Jersey.

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On 1/16/1910 a fire at the Central Hotel in Oneonta, New York killed one around 3:40 a.m. from a cinder box near the furnace in the hotel basement adjacent to an elevator shaft, allowing flames to rapidly spread “shutting off the thirty-five guests in the house from the stairs.”

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On 1/16/1897 a fire in the Buckner Orphan Home killed seventeen in Dallas, Texas in a fire that started at about 10:00 p.m.

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On 1/16/1861 The “Crittenden Compromise”, the last chance to keep north and south together, died in the U.S. Senate. Sought to alleviate concerns of the southern states, 4 states had already left the Union when it was proposed.

On 1/16/1919 the 18th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified prohibiting the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes,"

On 1/16/1935 Ma Barker was killed at Lake Weir, Florida.

On 1/16/1945 Adolf Hitler descended into his underground bunker, fifty-five feet under the chancellery, remaining there for 105 days until he committed suicide.

On 1/16/1979 the Shah flees Iran.

On 1/16/1991 the Persian Gulf War began, as the United Nations deadline for the Iraqi withdrawal from Kuwait expired.