Today in Fire History 11/7
On 11/7/1897 in Saint Augustine, Florida the Hotel San Marco, “one of the finest and most commodious hotel properties in this city, burned to the ground after an arsonist started a fire. The rope to the fire bell was cut causing a delay in sounding the alarm. The standpipe suction pipes had also been cut hampering fire department operations.â€
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On 11/7/1915 a firefighter was burned to death and four others were injured in a fire that destroyed the old Auditorium at the corner of Page and Fillmore St in San Francisco, California.
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On 11/7/1928 two Buffalo, New York firefighters “died of smoke inhalation while operating at a stubborn and smoky cellar fire.â€
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On 11/7/1959 a Chicago, Illinois firefighter “died while fighting an apartment building fire at 2327 W. Jackson Boulevard. The burning building exploded while he was trying to reach the roof on a ladder, and he fell to his death. The fire started on the third floor of the four-story building and was spreading to the fourth floor when the explosion occurred, showering debris on him and two other firefighters. He was taken to Presbyterian-Saint Luke’s Hospital, where he died.â€
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On 11/7/1960 two York, Ontario, Canada firefighters “perished while fighting a fire at the Loblaws Store at Dufferin. As conditions got worse, the members began to exit the basement, when they found a firefighter unconscious and out of air. They removed him to the chief’s buggy and transported him to the hospital where he remained for seven days. With the basement fire too hot and dangerous to re-enter, the Chief transmitted a 2nd alarm. While reassigning crews, it was found that a second firefighter was missing. Although no one had seen him enter, it was assumed that he followed the hose line in to help his crew after securing the hydrant connection. Due to dangerous conditions, no rescue attempt was made. It was not until the next day, after the basement was pumped out and the collapsed parts of the building were removed, that the missing firefighter’s body was located, 15 feet from the back steps and 2 feet away from the first firefighter’s helmet and light.
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On 11/7/2005 a Neosho, Missouri firefighter “and members of his fire department were dispatched to a report of a fire in a mill at Ragland Mills Inc. Upon the arrival of firefighters, mill workers explained that they were dealing with a fire in a large bin that contained wheat hulls. The wheat hull bin was 1 of 5 in a 100-foot tall silo; the only access to the top of the silo was using a lift. To assess the status of the fire, two firefighters were assigned to ride the lift to the top of the silo. Mill employees provided firefighters with information on the operation of the lift. One firefighter was the first to ascend, wearing full structural fire-fighting protective clothing. Near the top of the silo, he became wedged in the confined space between the lift and the structural members of the landing platform. His self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) caught on the structural member. The force of the lift bent the firefighter backward and did not allow him to operate the lift controls. He was dead when he was reached by plant employees and firefighters. His body was removed from the silo after the arrival of a ladder truck from the Joplin Fire Department. The cause of death was listed as positional asphyxia. The original fire was determined to be accidental, caused by sparks from welding.â€
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On 11/7/2009 three men were killed in a home fire in New York, New York.
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On 11/7/1890 the Rudd House Hotel fire in Owensboro, Kentucky killed one and injured several. The fire started about midnight in the basement, totally destroying the hotel, and extended to the Waddell Building, the Messenger Newspaper Office, and Evans' Livery Stable.
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On 11/7/1865 the Meadville, Pennsylvania conflagration fire started in the extensive “woolen factory†and communicated to the long frame tenement block to the west, and a house to the east; twenty to thirty families were rendered homeless.
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On 11/7/1860 in Cincinnati, Ohio the seven-story “steam chair factory†building on the south side of Second Street, west of Smith, and adjoining the large furniture factory was destroyed by fire. The fire was first observed in the drying room, at the west end of the building, on the second floor.
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On 11/7/1940 the Tacoma Narrows Bridge "Galloping Gertie" collapsed. The suspension bridge in Washington State spanned the Tacoma Narrows strait of Puget Sound between Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula. “At the time of its construction in 1940, the bridge was the third-longest suspension bridge in the world in terms of main span length, behind the Golden Gate Bridge and the George Washington Bridge.†The main span of the bridge collapsed under 40-mile-per-hour winds. The cause of failure was an aeroelastic flutter, the solid plate girder and deck acted like an airfoil, creating "drag" and "lift".