Today in Fire History 12/20
On 12/20/1922 the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) retired the last of the fire horses.? “Fire Commissioner Thomas J. Drennan, Brooklyn Borough President Edward Riegelmann, firefighters, and other city dignitaries gathered at Borough Hall to pay their final tribute to the fire horse. At 10:15 a.m. Assistant Fire Chief Joseph B. Martin tapped out the final call at the fire alarm box at Joralemon and Court Street: 5, 93, 205. (Translation: An engine is wanted, Station #93, let Company 205 answer.) When the alarm sounded, Balgriffen took his place in the middle spot of the hitch for the engine, with Danny Beg and Penrose on each side. George W. Murray drove the engine. On the ash pan behind, Captain Leon Howard kept his hand on the whistle rope so that it screamed one long blast; Engineer Tom McEwen pushed coal into the firebox with both feet and one hand (he used his other hand to hold on tight). Two other fire horses, Waterboy and Bucknell, hooked up to the hose wagon, with veteran John J. Foster at the reins. The horses dashed down Fulton Street and along Court Street to Joralemon Street, and then to the rear of Borough Hall. There, Jiggs, the senior coach dog, ran circles around the engine, obviously anxious and confused as to why no one was hooking up to the hydrant or dragging the hoses. The muster ceremony ended as Riegelmann placed wreaths on each horse and the press photos were taken. Then the five last fire horses of the FDNY were swapped for a new motorized engine and hose wagon. Balgriffen, Danny Beg, Penrose, Waterboy, and Bucknell were reportedly retired to either light-duty on Blackwell’s Island or upstate farms operated by the ASPCA.”
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On 12/20/1970 a fire at the Pioneer Hotel in Tucson, Arizona killed twenty-nine. The 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 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. “The Pioneer Hotel, designed by Tucson architect Roy Place, was one of Tucson's first high-rise buildings. Opened in 1929, the Spanish Revival hotel became the social center of the downtown business district. The property catered to the social elite. After the fire, developer Allan Elias converted the building to offices, with extensive remodeling and facade work in 1977. Later, John Hancock Mutual Life spent $1.3 million renovating the building, including hallways and other common areas. A metal frame was added to the top of the building in the 1970s. The building is currently owned by Holualoa Congress LLC… Shortly after midnight fire ripped through the landmark building. Twenty-nine people died in the fire. A 16-year-old, Louis C. Taylor, was eventually imprisoned for starting the fire, but new evidence presented in November 2013 suggested that it may not have been arson. On April 2, 2013, the 58-year-old Taylor was released from prison after pleading no contest to the original charges and given credit for time served. The Arizona Justice Project (a Phoenix-based non-profit group of attorneys and law students, advocating for inmates believed to have been wrongfully convicted) filed a motion earlier in 2013 for a new trial, which would have been difficult, as key witnesses are now deceased, and key evidence has since been destroyed. Also, modern arson investigators are unable to determine a cause for the fire, even using modern investigative methods.”
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On 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, New York 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. “Heat and smoke from the fire in the second-story auditorium spread up the two stairways and trapped 26 people in the fourth story of the fire-resistive building.? Fourteen persons were rescued over fire department ladders, but the other twelve died before firemen could reach them."
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On 12/20/1893 a Lancaster, Pennsylvania firefighter died while operating at a major fire that destroyed a furniture company.
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On 12/20/1906 two Savannah, Georgia firefighters “died from the injuries they sustained while operating at a fire on December 19, 1906.
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On 12/20/1969 a Detroit, Michigan firefighter died after suffering 2nd-degree burns over 80% of his body while operating at a fire.
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On 12/20/1977 three Vandenburg Air Force Base (California) firefighters were killed as they were assessing a large brush fire on Vandenburg AFB 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.”
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On 12/20/1991 in Brackenridge, Pennsylvania 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 fireball erupted from the collapse area killing the firefighters.
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On 12/20/2004 a Baytown, Texas 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 lifesaving efforts, he was pronounced dead at the scene.”
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On 12/20/2016 thirty-five people were killed, and dozens were injured in an explosion at 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.”
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On 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. The fire was believed to have been caused by the burning of furniture as a prank.
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On 12/20/1975 the Metropolitan Block Building, a five-story structure at Third and State Streets in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 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 blasted against the flames, it took more than 11 hours to bring the fire under control.
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On 12/20/1944 a fire swept the Scott Block on State Street, including Grant's variety store in Erie, Pennsylvania.
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On 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.
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On 12/20/1963 the Berlin Wall opened for the first time to visit relatives.
On 12/20/1946 the French crackdown on Vietnamese rebels.
On 12/20/1862 the Civil War raid on Holly Springs, Mississippi began, CSA Gen Van Dorn thwarted Union Gen Grant's 1st attempt to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi.
On 12/20/1860 South Carolina became the 1st state to secede from the Union.?
On 12/20/1836 President Andrew Jackson presented Congress with a treaty negotiated with the Fox, Ioway, Omaha, Otoe, Sacs, and Sioux tribes of the Missouri territory.
On 12/20/1803 The French surrendered, without a shot fired, New Orleans and Lower Louisiana to the United States.