Today in Fire History 3/27

On 3/27/1841 the first steam fire engine was tested by designer P. Hodge at City Hall in New York; the 14-foot long 7-ton contraption threw a 1-? inch stream of water over the flagpole. City firefighters hated the engine, they believed it would replace the hand pump and put them all out of work. Firefighters, hired by ward politicians, possessed significant political clout. The hand-drawn hand-pump engine remained in use until after the Civil War in New York.

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On 3/27/1923 a Fort William, Ontario, Canada firefighter died when a wall collapsed at the Rutledge and Jackson Store fire, killing him instantly.

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On 3/27/1949 a Peoria, Illinois firefighter “collapsed and died while fighting a fire at the Charlton Club Tavern. At 1:00 p.m., Sunday, March 27, 1949, Box Alarm 114 sounded an alarm to signal a fire at the Charlton Club Tavern at 1303 Second Avenue. Engine Company 8, with the firefighter in command, was the first fire apparatus to arrive on the scene. While helping extinguish the fire, he collapsed to the ground at 1:08 p.m., only eight minutes into the ordeal. The Inhalator Squad was summoned from the Central Fire Station, but he died en route to Saint Francis Hospital.”

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On 3/27/1958 three Chicago, Illinois firefighters died at a 5-11 fire at 1755 E 71St Street, a one-story 100’ X 300’ building. “The fire department responded to an alarm at 3:00 a.m. for a fire at the South Shore Lincoln-Mercury auto garage on E. 71st Street.? More than twenty firefighters were inside the building trying to find the source of the flames when the roof collapsed. Seven firefighters were injured and three were killed by the collapse. Initial investigations focused on the possibility of arson, as a bystander on the scene claimed to have seen two men leaving the building shortly before the fire was discovered, but no other witnesses corroborated the story. The coroner’s inquest raised questions about whether or not it had been too dangerous for firefighters to enter the building in the first place, but a Battalion Chief testified that the fire appeared no more dangerous than any other. The jury eventually ruled that the three deaths were accidental. Based on the failure of the wooden truss supporting the laminated roof structure, the jury recommended enacting a law requiring all wooden truss roofs to be insulated with fireproof materials.”

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On 3/27/2015 a gas explosion in Manhattan’s East Village (New York, New York) ignited a fire that killed two people, injured twenty-six, and caused two buildings to partially collapse. “The massive explosion was apparently connected to gas and plumbing work at an East Village building that sparked the vast seven-alarm fire that then spread to four buildings, according to officials and the Mayor.” “The massive blast tore through a five-story building igniting the structure and three adjacent buildings as the flames tore through the roof. The fire completely gutted the residential building with a restaurant on the first floor, leaving only the brick exterior as the floors collapsed on top of each other into a heap of rubble.”

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On 3/27/2014 a six-alarm Toronto, Canada mattress factory fire forced evacuation.

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On 3/27/2013 a Sherrard, Illinois mobile home fire killed five residents, four of them children near Quad Cities.

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On 3/27/1981 the Harbor Cay Condominium collapsed killing eleven workers and injuring twenty-seven others in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Numerous errors in design and construction led to the failure of the five-story flat plate-designed residential project. The concrete slabs were 8” thick not 11” and the “chair spacers” used to support them were undersized. An architect, two engineers, and two contractors were charged with negligence. This construction accident led to significant changes in Florida Building Codes.

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On 3/27/1947 a filling station explosion and fire killed five in Bristol, Tennessee. "Gasoline fumes had leaked into the basement and in some manner became ignited." "How the fumes became ignited, of course, is a matter of supposition, but I believe that a spark from an air compressor motor in the basement was the cause. It could not have been caused by a lighted cigarette." "The explosion did not come from the gasoline tanks. The heavy concrete, which rained on the tanks, broke them and allowed the gasoline to pour out, feeding the flames, but the tanks themselves did not explode."

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On 3/27/1917 a gas leak in the basement of the hotel caused an explosion and fire in Creston, West Virginia that killed five and extended to eleven buildings in the business section.

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On 3/27/1912 the Masten Park High School, at Masten and Best Streets in Buffalo, NY one of the four big high schools, was completely destroyed by fire caused by an explosion of chemicals shortly after noon today over 1,000 boys and girls filed out in perfect order.

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On 3/27/1911 the business district of Linn Grove, Iowa conflagration started in the hall of the Modern Woodmen of America and quickly spread to neighboring buildings including a butcher shop, a warehouse, and a barbershop.

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On 3/27/1909 in Stanton, Texas an explosion and fire from a gasoline bath heater in a barbershop around 7:00 a.m. extended to several businesses.

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On 3/27/1882 the Vulcan Powder Company in San Francisco, California explosion in the granulating house killed eleven and injured four at a manufacturing plant that produces black blasting powder.

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On 3/27/1855 Abraham Gesner patents kerosene, also known as paraffin in the United Kingdom, a combustible hydrocarbon liquid; the name is derived from Greek keros (κηρ??) wax.

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On 3/27/1977 a collision involving two Boeing 747 passenger aircraft on the runway of Los Rodeos Airport (aka Tenerife North Airport) on the Spanish Canary Island of Tenerife, claimed 583 lives.

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On 3/27/1836 “The Goliad Massacre, the tragic termination of the Goliad Campaign of 1836, is of all the episodes of the Texas Revolution the most infamous. Though not as salient as the battle of the Alamo, the massacre immeasurably garnered support for the cause against Mexico both within Texas and in the United States, thus contributing greatly to the Texan victory at the battle of San Jacinto and sustaining the independence of the Republic of Texas. The execution of James W. Fannin, Jr.'s command in the Goliad Massacre was not without precedent, however, and a Mexican president and general Antonio López de Santa Anna, who ultimately ordered the exterminations, was operating within Mexican law.”