Today in Fire History 12/20

12/20/1970 a fire at the Pioneer Hotel in Tucson, AZ killed twenty-nine. Fire set in two places approximately 60’ apart on the fourth floor of the luxurious high-rise started shortly after midnight. Open stairways, combustible interior finish materials and the carpet covering floors allowed the fire to spread vertically within the building. A jury found Louis C. Taylor guilty of 28 counts of first-degree murder and arson.

12/20/1893 a Lancaster, PA firefighter died while operating at a major fire that destroyed a furniture company.

12/20/1906 two Savannah, GA firefighters “died from the injuries they sustained while operating at a fire on December 19, 1906.

12/20/1969 a Detroit, MI firefighter died after suffering 2nd degree burns over 80% of his body, while operating at a fire.

12/20/1977 three Vandenburg AFB, CA firefighters were killed as they were assessing a large brush fire on Vandenburg Air Force Base property and the fire swept over them. Another firefighter, who was creating a firebreak with a bulldozer, was severely burned when the fire also swept over him and died weeks later. “On the morning of December 20, 1977, high winds reportedly caused a power line pole to snap, igniting the dense chaparral in a canyon on the southern portion of Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc. The wind gusts were in excess of 100 miles per hour. The fire was pushed through drought-stricken chaparral at abnormally high speeds, rapidly moving through Honda Canyon to the west before heading north along Vandenberg’s coast.”

12/20/1991 Brackenridge, PA an early morning fire at the West Interior Services building killed four firefighters. A furniture refinishing business was housed in an 80-year old, two-story, unsprinklered, light non-combustible building with a basement. Around 5:47 a.m. an employee who was opening the building reported the fire. Firefighters found light smoke around the building's exterior and light smoke on the first floor. At 6:38 a.m. a section of floor, approximately 15 wide and the full width of the building, adjacent to the exterior door collapsed and apparently ruptured many drums and other containers holding flammable liquids, a fire ball erupted from the collapse area killing the firefighters.

12/20/2004 a Baytown, TX firefighter “was part of a search and rescue crew at a working residential fire. Conditions deteriorated inside the house and the crew evacuated. Once outside, it was discovered one of the firefighters was missing. After the fire was controlled, he was found in the foyer by firefighters. Despite life-saving efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene.”

12/20/2016 thirty-five people were killed, and dozens injured in explosion in a fireworks market in Mexico. A massive, multicolored explosion decimated a fireworks market outside the Mexican capital leaving it a charred wasteland. “The technicolor blast was the third such explosion in just over a decade to hit the popular San Pablito marketplace in Tultepec, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Mexico City. The detonations struck in the run-up to the busy Christmas holiday when many Mexicans stock up on fireworks.”

12/20/1993 a fire in the club caused the deaths of seventeen teenagers at the Kheyvis nightclub in Olivos, Buenos Aires, Argentina during a graduation party for the La Salle College, was believed to have been caused by the burning of furniture as a prank.

12/20/1975 Milwaukee, WI the Metropolitan Block Building, a five-story structure at Third and State Streets, an important part in the revitalization of historic Third Street, was destroyed by fire.  Twenty-five master streams were used to control the blaze, despite this effort, and the seven million gallons of water they blasted against the flames, it took more than 11 hours to bring the fire under control.

12/20/1965 before 5:00 p.m. a suspicious fire started on the balcony of the auditorium in the second and third stories of the Jewish Community Center in Yonkers, NY that killed twelve of the twenty-six people trapped in the fourth story of the fire-resistive building as heat and smoke from the fire in the second-story auditorium spread up the two stairways.

12/20/1944 Erie, Pennsylvania a fire swept the Scott Block on State Street, including Grant's variety store.

12/20/1973 a tornado struck Florida City, FL that injured fourteen.

12/20/1912 the Kewpie doll was introduced to the American market, initially made out of bisque exclusively, but composition versions were introduced in the 1920s and celluloid versions were manufactured in the following decades. Celluloid created from nitrocellulose and camphor, considered to be the first thermoplastic, celluloid is highly flammable.

12/20/1963 Berlin Wall opened for first time to visit relatives.

12/20/1946 the French crack down on Vietnamese rebels.

12/20/1862 the Civil War raid on Holly Springs, Mississippi began, CSA Gen Van Dorn thwarts Union Gen Grant's 1st attempt to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi.

12/20/1860 South Carolina became the 1st state to secede from the Union.  

12/20/1836 President Andrew Jackson presents Congress with a treaty negotiated with the Fox, Ioway, Omaha, Otoe, Sacs, and Sioux tribes of the Missouri territory.

12/20/1803 The French surrender, without a shot fired, New Orleans and Lower Louisiana to the U.S.