Today in Fire History 12/10
On 12/10/1977 in Bay City, Michigan a flash fire in an aging downtown landmark, the four-story Wenonah Hotel building, a combination apartment building and hotel, housing numerous welfare recipients killed between eight and twelve and injured sixty of the estimated more than 140 persons who were occupying the 306 rooms of the 70-year-old red brick structure as fire swept through the hotel “sending flames from every window and forcing scores of screaming residents to leap for their lives in zero-degree temperatures.” “According to media reports, residents of the apartment building reported upper floor lights flickering at about 7:00 a.m. that day. Initial sights of smoke were reported about 15 minutes later. By 7:30 a.m., flames appeared in the northeast section of the building. The third and fourth floors were quickly consumed by the blaze. Temperatures lingered in the single digits that day and winds also approached 30mph. 1One fire hydrant was initially frozen. As the water began to flow, it quickly froze on the streets, sidewalks, and the exterior of the building. Ladder trucks also froze, making third- and fourth-story rescues difficult. Employees from Michigan Bell and Consumers Energy brought their cherrypickers to the scene to be used for rescues. The utilities were later credited with preventing more fatalities. The cause of the fire brought with it its storyline. There was speculation whether or not the building had been properly inspected in 1970 when highly flammable paneling was installed. Fire investigators ultimately determined the cause centered on faulty wiring in the third-floor ceiling at the northeast corner of the building.
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On 12/10/1858 a Manhattan, New York firefighter died in a building collapse during a fire. “Around 4:00 a.m., a private night watchman discovered a fire in the Harlem and New Haven Railroad Depot on Centre Street. The five-story warehouse occupied the entire block bordered by Centre, Franklin, and White Streets. The fire started in a small room on the second floor used for manufacturing packing boxes. At some point, the fire-damaged second floor caved in onto the first floor where several Fire Patrolmen were working and were injured. This was followed by an explosion that was caused by stored fireworks. The fire extended through the second, third, and fourth floors of the building before being extinguished. Believing that persons might have been buried in the rubble, a search was undertaken.” Around 9:00 p.m., the body of the Patrolman (firefighter) was discovered under a printing press in the southwest corner of the first floor.”
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On 12/10/1891 four Louisville, Kentucky firefighters died at a fire that originated on December 9, 1891, at 6:20 p.m. “at the Boone Paper Company in the 600 block of West Jefferson Street and quickly spread to the upper floors and roof of the Bamberger Streng & Co, F. W. Johanboeke & Son, and the Bliss-Woolford-Payne Company. The fire was brought under control with great difficulty at 10:00 p.m. Several fire companies were left to overhaul the Boone Paper Company. Some of the gas accumulated in the basement of the Bamberger and Streng & Co. building located next door to the burned-out ruins of the Boone Paper Company. At approximately 2:34 a.m. on December 10th, while firefighters were raking away the ruins of the Boone Paper company, a large gas explosion occurred at the Bamberger, Strong & Co. building and flames broke from every floor and shot through the roof. The explosion caused a wall from the Boone Paper Company to collapse onto the firefighters” All four firefighters perished in the explosion.
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On 12/10/1934 a Baltimore, Maryland firefighter died from a wall collapse during a building fire. “On arrival, firefighters found the fire already showing through the roof of a four-story brick rag and wastepaper concern. While operating a line from the roof of an adjoining two-story building, the members of Engine 2 narrowly escaped death when the rear wall collapsed, showering them with bricks. As they went back to work with their line, the wall of the building they were on suddenly collapsed outward, pitching them into the burning debris of the warehouse. Before they could get to their feet, another wall fell on them, burying the six men. Immediate rescue efforts were launched, and the Rescue Company had to use acetylene torches to cut girders that had some of the men pinned. One firefighter had his leg torn off by one of the falling girders and also suffered internal injuries. He died at the scene of the five-alarm blaze due to a severe loss of blood.”
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On 12/10/1936 a Brooklyn, New York (FDNY) firefighter “died as a result of the severe smoke inhalation sustained the previous day, while operating at a fire in an armory.”
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On 12/10/1949 a Miami, Florida firefighter died from asphyxiation, “carbon monoxide poisoning,” at a fire in a produce market, 1145 SW 8th Street. “At the height of the fire, when dense smoke poured from the building, the firefighter stumbled to the street and said he felt ill. He was transported to the hospital by the emergency squad, and was conscious the whole time, but collapsed and died as he was being wheeled into the emergency room at 3:25 a.m.”
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On 12/10/1949 a Saint Louis, Missouri firefighter “collapsed in the basement of a two-story flat. Wires in which the insulation had been burnt away were causing flashes. One of these occurred near him moments before he collapsed.”
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On 12/10/1967 a Fitchburg, Massachusetts firefighter died in a vacant three-story building fire. The building had been slated for demolition. “Firefighters were operating on the third floor starting to vent. As the first window was opened up, the ceiling exploded in a mass of flames, engulfing and killing one firefighter, three men jumped from a window and hung from a guy wire until a ladder could be raised to rescue them. “It was later discovered that even though there was a solid brick wall between the two buildings, the fire extended - unseen by firefighters - into the cockloft through an old vent. Once they vented the first window, enough oxygen fed the fire, causing a backdraft to collapse the ceiling onto the men.”
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On 12/10/1968 a Chicago, Illinois firefighter “was fatally injured while fighting a fire at a bowling alley on N. Spaulding Avenue on December 7, 1968. He was operating on the roof of the burning building when the truss roof collapsed. He fell into the burning building and was presumed dead, but was recovered from the burning ruins four hours later. He was treated for burns and internal injuries at Belmont Hospital, where he died three days after the fire.”
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On 12/10/1999 a Schaghticoke, New York firefighter died while “supervising the disposal of fireworks residue in a controlled burn at a local fairgrounds. He noticed a spark heading toward a van containing at least one hundred pounds of additional residue that was to be disposed of. He yelled for the fireworks worker to run but was unable to escape the explosion himself. The van exploded and burned. He was killed instantly.” His actions were credited with saving the fireworks company employee.
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On 12/10/2018 three people “are now dead after a morning fire in Hanover Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The coroner confirms a 27 y/o male, a 27 y/o female, and a 2 y/o female, all died in the fire that seems to have started in the kitchen area.”
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On 12/10/2014 four died, but five were able to escape an Enfield, Connecticut fire in a two-family dwelling on the Connecticut River around 6:15 a.m. When firefighters arrived “flames were shooting out of the building and the second floor had collapsed into the first.”
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On 12/10/1925 the Overton #2 coal mine near Irondale, Alabama explosion left fifty-three dead, most believed to have been killed by the blast.
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On 12/10/1881 the D. Lundy's Furniture Store on Market Street San Francisco, California was destroyed by fire just before 1:00 p.m. and extended to four exposures.
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On 12/10/1901 the 1st Nobel Prizes were awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace; on the 5th anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives. Nobel invented dynamite in 1867, a substance easier and safer to handle than the more unstable nitroglycerin.
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On 12/10/1898 Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-American War.
On 12/10/1864 General Sherman and the Union Army arrived in front of Savannah.