Today in Fire History 3/1

On 3/1/1971 The United States Capitol building in Washington D.C. was bombed by a group calling itself the "Weather Underground" a radical faction of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) that advocated violent means to transform American society; the explosion caused an estimated $300,000 in damage, no one was injured. “Other targets of Weathermen bombings were the Long Island Court House, the New York Police Department headquarters, the Pentagon, and the State Department.”

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On 3/1/1911 A federal act known as Weeks Law was passed. “Weeks Law of 1911 gave states increased financial assistance for watershed and forest protection. By 1913, the state was also contributing to forestry efforts through the passage of the Forest Patrol Act, which funded firefighting activities. The Forest Patrol Act was financed through the assessment of landowners for the protection of their lands. In 1925, the Forest Patrol Act was amended to create protection districts that were patrolled by a local association and overseen by the Department of Forestry.”

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On 3/1/1863 a San Francisco, California firefighter “died from injuries he sustained in the discharge of his duties, at the Mare Island Navy Yard Fire.”

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On 3/1/1894 a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania firefighter “died in a fire at 6th & Chestnut Streets.”

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On 3/1/1926 a Houston, Texas firefighter died after fighting a house fire. “On February 28, 1926, Fire Station 4 received a call for a house fire at 2707 Grant Street. The firefighter and his crew arrived on the scene, the structure was totally involved. He took his crew around to the rear of the house to attack the fire. He gallantly led his crew onto the back porch of the house. Without warning, the chimney came loose from the house, crashing onto the porch, tearing it away from the house, and sending the firefighters scurrying for their lives. He took most of the brunt of the flying brick and debris and suffered critical injuries. He was taken to Saint Joseph Hospital where he died the next morning.”

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On 3/1/1931 a San Francisco, California firefighter “died from the injuries he sustained while operating at an automobile fire, of which there were firearms inside.”

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On 3/1/1933 a Long Beach, California firefighter “died from trauma injuries after being trapped.”

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On 3/1/1935 a Manhattan, New York (FDNY) firefighter died of smoke inhalation while operating at a two-alarm fire at 474 Broadway.

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On 3/1/1947 a Minneapolis, Minnesota firefighter died at a “fire in the Snyder Drug Store building at Hennepin Avenue and 8th Street South. Overcome by smoke while checking the building's first floor to ensure that all crews had backed out, he seemed to revive, but collapsed again later and died from the effect of toxic fumes.”

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On 3/1/1957 three Chicago, Illinois firefighters were killed in a fire at the Lawrence Corporation factory on W. 41st Street. “Employees discovered the fire shortly after noon and notified the Chicago Fire Department. All of the plant employees were safely evacuated, but shortly after firefighters arrived on the scene an explosion from inside the building caused two of the factory walls to collapse. The three firefighters were buried by the debris and suffered fatal injuries. A witness to the explosion described it as a “puff like a whisper and then a low rumble.” Later investigations proved that the fire had started in the first-floor boiler room of the factory and had spread to an empty storage room. The fatal explosion originated in the storage room, as smoke and gases that had built up in the room were ignited when the flames reached them. An inquest determined that no violations of building codes contributed to the fire and no known explosive substances had been located in the building.”

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On 3/1/1971 two Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania “firefighters were both killed instantly when they were operating at a six-alarm fire at the Saint Vincent DePaul Furniture Store when the roof and second floor collapsed on them.”

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On 3/1/1973 a Paterson, New Jersey firefighter “was killed when he fell from a roof while operating at a fire.”

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On 3/1/1973 a Weymouth, Massachusetts firefighter “died from asphyxiation and smoke inhalation.”

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On 3/1/1984 an Albany, New York firefighter died at an arson fire on Delaware Avenue.

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On 3/1/2002 a Jefferson City, Tennessee firefighter “died in a structure fire in a single-family residence. Four firefighters in the interior completed a primary search of the structure. Finding an all-clear, two firefighters retrieved a hoseline from the front entrance of the house for fire control. A positive-pressure fan was placed at the front entrance of the structure and windows were broken out for ventilation. A backup line from another engine company was advanced into the interior. The hoselines were not having much effect on the fire and the second hose line became useless when the booster tank on the second engine ran out of water. A third line was deployed but interior conditions continued to worsen. The Incident Commander (IC) ordered an evacuation. Due to problems with the IC’s radio, firefighters inside the structure did not hear the order while conditions continued to worsen inside the structure. An accountability report was taken, and a firefighter was found to be missing. The fire had progressed to the point that further entry into the structure was impossible. A deck gun was used to darken down the fire. Firefighters were able to see the missing firefighter about 5 feet inside the front door of the structure. The firefighter was wearing and using his self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) and personal alert safety system (PASS) device.”

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On 3/1/2019 a Berwick, Maine firefighter “died of the injuries he sustained while operating at a 3-story apartment building fire on Bell Street. He and another firefighter became trapped in a third-floor room of the building. He shielded the other firefighter when the flames and heat pressed in around them. He was among a group of five firefighters who went into the building to fight the flames, and only three of them found a way to escape. He and the firefighter he protected had to be pulled from the building. He was unresponsive when his colleagues removed him from the building. EMTs and others immediately began efforts to resuscitate him but were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover.”

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On 3/1/2017 four children (4, 7, 10, and 13) in Riddle, Douglas County, Oregon died in an early morning of a house fire; another child and two adults were taken to a Portland hospital for treatment of serious injuries. The fire started shortly after 2:00 a.m. in the 700 block of East Third Avenue.

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On 3/1/2014 a two-alarm fire in the Curtis Bay area of Baltimore, Maryland home killed two young children and their father and left their mother in critical condition after jumping from a second-story window.

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On 3/1/1966 three children and one adult died in their Longmeadow, Massachusetts home from an early morning fire that may have started from improperly disposed of smoking materials, while the occupants were asleep; the home was not equipped with a smoke alarm.

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On 3/1/1935 in Alva, Oklahoma the State Teachers' College was destroyed by fire; “only the walls and one room were left standing;” it is “believed to have started from defective wiring in the floor above the reading room.”

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On 3/1/1908 the entire northeastern section of Tampa, Florida was destroyed by a fire that started in a boarding house and burned fifty-five acres or eighteen and one-half city blocks and damaged three hundred eight buildings, between Twelfth and Michigan Avenues, and Sixteenth and Twentieth Streets, leaving “one woman dead from excitement.” Among the buildings destroyed were four large and one smaller cigar factory, cafes, six saloons, twelve restaurants, hotels, ten boarding houses, and over 200 residents.

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On 3/1/1902 the upper floor of the Calais National Bank Building burned in Calais, Maine most of the building was damaged.

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On 3/1/1902 a four-story Cleveland Baking Powder Company building collapsed and killed five in Cleveland, Ohio at noon. “Forty girls and eight men were employed on the third floor and the panic that followed is indescribable.” “Witnesses told that they had heard the building crack and that they had notified their boss, who had told the superintendent.”

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On 3/1/1901 the five-story Leary Dye Company Plant at Platt and Mill Streets in Rochester, New York was gutted by fire that started from chemicals stored in the upper floors of the building, leaving three dead.

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On 3/1/1897 six businesses in Berlin, New Hampshire were wiped out by a fire.

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On 3/1/1932 the Lindbergh baby, Charles Lindbergh III, the 20-month-old son of aviation hero Charles Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the family's mansion in Hopewell, New Jersey

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On 3/1/1910 in Wellington, Washington an avalanche caused two Great Northern passenger trains to wreck that killed 96