Today in Fire History 12/15
On 12/15/1972 an industrial plant fire at Koppers Steel killed nineteen in Weirton, West Virginia about 9:44 a.m. after a series of explosions ripped through the coke plant. The plant on Brown Island in the middle of the Ohio River was testing a battery of coke ovens before the unit would go into production at the end of the month. The first explosion occurred, followed by three more within a half-hour span, that left the facility a mass of twisted metal girders and sheet steel. “Three men were removed from the scene immediately and pronounced dead on arrival at Weirton General and Ohio Valley Hospitals. Most of the dead, however, were trapped under the mass of debris. The last of the dead were recovered late Friday night by some of the approximate 100 workers who sifted through the far-flung piles of rubble and garbage in search of the victims. “The blasts were so powerful the men never had a chance.” At the time of the explosion, the ovens were being heated before being fully charged on Dec. 29. It was reported to Koppers and the three sub-contracting firms on the project were working double shifts to allow for Christmas vacations. Coke oven gas was being piped across the Ohio River from the older coke battery in the Weirton Steel plant and was being used to heat the ovens. A spokesman said the heating process has been underway since July to help dry out the mortar used in the oven’s construction. A spokesman said the blast may have been triggered by gas seeping from the walls of the ovens. Before the explosion, somebody smelled gas, it was said.”
?
On 12/15/1949 a Sioux City, Iowa industrial plant explosion killed sixteen of the estimated 1,000 persons in the building. The first and second floors, which housed the office staff and company restaurant, got the brunt of the explosion. Part of the second-floor ceiling and a reinforced concrete loading dock on the southwest corner of the building fell into the basement. Ammonia fumes hampered operations. “Amid a scene of ruin "just like the place had been bombed," workers and machines dug through the rubble where at least 16 persons perished in a violent explosion. As sorrowing families of the 16 identified dead went about funeral preparations the search at the Swift & Company packing plant continued. Nine of some 90 other persons injured remained in critical condition at hospitals. Workers who labored throughout the night under floodlights used blow torches to melt away twisted girders.”
?
On 12/15/1872 a Toledo, Ohio firefighter “fell to his death trying to escape the fire when he attempted to slide down the hose line from the 4th floor during a fire at the Bronson Tobacco works on LaGrange and Water Streets.”
?
On 12/15/1895 two Little Rock, Arkansas firefighters were injured and would pass away on December 23rd and 24th from “critical burns, severe head and internal injuries they sustained when they were caught under a collapsing roof while battling a church fire.
?
On 12/15/1898 four members of the Chicago Fire Department “were fatally injured while fighting a fire at the Palace Livery Stable on Cottage Grove Avenue. Two firefighters were killed instantly when a wall collapsed during fire ground operations; the other two would die later in the week. The fire started shortly after 6:30 p.m. The firefighters were climbing a ladder on the 32nd Street side of the livery stable when the outer wall collapsed, burying eleven firefighters in the debris. The collapse occurred because the upper floors of the livery were not supported on the ground floor by weight-bearing posts and were instead hung from a truss roof.”
?
On 12/15/1934 a Fitchburg, Massachusetts firefighter died “while operating at a major fire that destroyed the high school after he was crushed to death by a falling beam when the ceiling collapsed.”
?
On 12/15/1958 a Michigan City, Indiana firefighter “died of smoke inhalation while operating at a fire in the basement of a two-story residence at 227 Huron Street.”
?
On 12/15/1968 a Cleveland, Ohio firefighter “was killed when he fell through the floor while operating at a five-alarm fire.”
?
On 12/15/2013 a Waycross, GA firefighter died during overhaul operations on a residential structure fire when the ceiling collapsed trapping him.
?
On 12/15/2015 an Ulster County, New York firefighter died while fighting a chimney fire at 11 Fel Qui Road around 6:59 p.m. “According to the fire department, when firefighters arrived on the scene, they observed fire coming from the ground floor. An entry team of firefighters from the Mt. Marion Fire Department entered the basement to extinguish the fire. During the interior firefighting operation, the firefighter became separated from his team. He was quickly located by fellow firefighters and removed from the basement. Once outside, He became unresponsive and firefighters initiated lifesaving measures. He was treated by paramedics at the scene and transported by ambulance to the Health Alliance Hospital-Kingston Broadway Campus where efforts to revive him continued. Despite all life-saving measures, he eventually succumbed to his injuries.”
?
On 12/15/2011 a mother and her three children, 3, 6, and 7 years old died, in a row house fire. The suspected cause of the fire was children playing with a cigarette lighter believed to have lit a mattress on fire that burned out of control in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. “The mother called 911 at 12:03 a.m. and told dispatchers that she had awakened to find her mattress on fire on the second floor of 1264 Nolan Court, off Mohler Street and Brushton Avenue. Moments later, firefighters learned there were four people trapped inside. Witnesses told police that the boyfriend was alerted to the blaze by one of the boys, who had come down the stairs for a bucket of water, which he used in failed efforts to put out the blaze. The man and her twin sister got out. Ms. Coulverson tried to pull the children to safety but was entrapped by the flames.”
?
On 12/15/1970 a fire gutted the 1848 Greek Revival-style Botetourt County Courthouse in Fincastle, Virginia was discovered at 2:30 a.m. Firefighting operations were complicated because the town did not have a water system, so water had to be pumped from a creek and a pond several hundred yards away. The county's historic records were fortunately secure in a vault and survived almost unharmed. However, because of the “near-loss” of these documents, the Virginia General Assembly passed the “Virginia Public Records Act” in 1975, mandating “deeds, wills, and other vital records are inventoried and microfilmed and copies of the film stored permanently in the Library of Virginia in Richmond for safekeeping”
?
On 12/15/1907 the Mercer County, Pennsylvania Courthouse burned to the ground, at 10:00 p.m. Smoke was observed coming from the cupola, followed by an explosion. The fire was first detected in the attic, beneath the belfry, and not in the part of the clock cupola. It was believed that the gas piping to the lights illuminating the clock's dials was somehow faulty. “Brisk winds helped fan the flames and low water pressure prevented any effective countermeasures.”
?
On 12/15/1898 in Madison, Florida a Florida Central & Peninsular Railroad passenger train wreck killed six after a collision with cattle on the track.
?
On 12/15/1890 Sitting Bull was killed by Indian police at the Standing Rock reservation in South Dakota.
On 12/15/1864 the Civil War Battle of Nashville, Tennessee started when a Union army commanded by General George Thomas swarmed over the Rebel trenches around Nashville nearly destroying the Confederate Army of Tennessee.
?
On 12/15/1791 The Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution, became law:
1.????Freedom of religion, speech, and assembly;
2.????Right to keep and bear arms;
3.????No forcible quartering of soldiers during peacetime;
4.????Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure;
5.????Right to a grand jury for capital crimes and due process; the protection from double jeopardy, self-incrimination, and public confiscation of private property without just compensation.
6.????Right to speedy and public trial by jury and a competent defense
7.????Right to trial by jury for monetary cases above $20
8.????Protection against excessive bail or fines and cruel and unusual punishments
9.????Rights not enumerated are retained by the people
10. Rights not given to the federal government or prohibited the state governments by the Constitution are reserved to the States... or the people