Today in Fire History 4/24
On 4/24/1851 the first fire alarm signal system was installed in Boston, Massachusetts. The system had 40 manual crank street boxes on 3 box circuits with 19 alarm bells that were originally painted black. The concept was pioneered by Dr. William F. Channing and designed by Moses G. Farmer, a telegraphic engineer using closed electrically supervised circuits. The first actual alarm was sent a week later on April 29, 1852, at 8:25 p.m. … “Long before lockboxes held building access keys, the Boston Fire Department fabricated boxes to do the same.?They are being installed and used to this day, which is why you’ll never see a Knox Box or similar brand in Boston. All apparatus carries the key to these key vaults because it was keyed the same as Boston’s street fire alarm telegraph boxes – which all firefighters have access to rewind and reset if pulled. They’re spring-driven and use central office batteries, so they work during power failures or radio failures. Each fire alarm telegraph box also has a Morse telegraph key inside which can be used to telegraph a second alarm or a “fire out” signal – very useful before radio or if the radio system fails. Originally installed in the 1850s, these street fire alarm telegraph boxes are still in service – all 1500 of them.”
On 4/24/1850 a Manhattan, New York firefighter was killed when he fell through an open hatchway while operating at a fire.
On 4/24/1889 two Atlanta, Georgia firefighters died after returning to “the scene of a fire at the Wellhouse & Sons Paper Company that had gutted a paper plant on April 21st. The fire had proved to be very stubborn and resisted all final extinguishment efforts. As firefighters went to work once again, a serious windstorm developed, blowing down the teetering walls onto the men. The two were killed when they were caught beneath one of the collapsing walls.”
On 4/24/1904 a Newark, New Jersey firefighter died from injuries sustained in the three-alarm fire at the Weiner Company in the building collapse the day before.
On 4/24/1919 two Baltimore, Maryland firefighters died fighting an industrial school fire. “While workers were repairing the roof of an industrial school, they ignited a fire under the eaves. As a bucket brigade, made up of students, was formed to extinguish the blaze, a call was put to a nearby volunteer fire department instead of the city department. They responded but didn't have enough pressure in the hoseline to reach the fire. As the fire grew in intensity, several boys ran a half-mile and pulled a city alarm box. While en route to the fire, the captain of Truck 8 stopped at the box and banged in a second alarm. The chief engineer struck a third alarm, as the school became totally involved in fire. After the main body of fire was knocked down, several firefighters entered the building to extinguish the remaining pockets of fire. Without warning, the balcony crashed down, trapping eight of the men under tons of rubble. A couple of the men suffered minor injuries and were able to get out, but the others were far more seriously injured and had to be dug out. It was discovered that two of the men had been killed instantly by a falling girder.”
On 4/24/1949 a Portland, Oregon firefighter “died of a heart attack while leading his crew at a house fire at 432 NE Russell Street. He was assisting in raising a ladder in the two-story structure when he collapsed and died at the scene.”
On 4/24/1959 an Albany, New York firefighter was killed while operating at a three-alarm fire in a furniture warehouse.
On 4/24/1972 a Los Angeles County, California firefighter died while fighting a fire at the National Lumber and Supply building. Five firefighters “wearing air masks, had chopped a hole in the wall of the building plant at 17326 Woodruff Avenue and took a hose to try and prevent the flames from spreading. Flames and thick smoke burst through an inner door and set the area ablaze just after the firefighters entered. Four of the firefighters, unable to see through the smoke, believed he was with them as they grabbed the hoseline and followed it out of the building. Once outside the blazing structure, they realized that one firefighter had not come out. By the time they reached the outside of the structure, a portion of the roof had collapsed on the area, and the heat and flames prevented a rescue attempt. The fire was believed to have been arson.”
On 4/24/1977 a Peoria, Arizona firefighter “was electrocuted while trying to get a cat off a power pole.”
On 4/24/2013 a Bangladesh commercial building that housed five garment factories, several shops, and a bank collapsed and caught fire. The eight-story building collapsed in Savar, a sub-district in the Greater Dhaka Area, the capital of Bangladesh. The death toll was reported at 1,127 with approximately 2,500 injured. Warnings to avoid using the building after cracks appeared the day before had been ignored. Garment workers were ordered to return the following day. The building collapsed during the morning rush hour; several fires broke out after the collapse. Dhaka, the home of more than 4,000 garment factories, where the minimum wage was $38 a month.
On 4/24/2013 two natural gas barges exploded in Mobile, Alabama, and burned during cleaning injuring three. Firefighters and the Coast Guard responded to four explosions on the two fuel barges in the Mobile River. The explosion came two months after the 900-foot-long Triumph was towed to Mobile after becoming disabled during a cruise by an engine room fire, leaving thousands of passengers to endure cold food, unsanitary conditions, and power outages.
On 4/24/2013 four children were killed in a mobile home fire near the South Carolina city of Hartsville. Firefighters took about 10 minutes to extinguish the fire and then found the victims in the charred interior of the home. The fire broke out on a street lined with mobile homes near the city of about 8,000 people about 60 miles east of the state capital of Columbia.
On 2/24/2012 five people were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
On 2/24/2011 six people died after a fast-burning fire tore through a Vancouver, Washington home.
On 4/24/1913 a terrific mine explosion near Courtney, Pennsylvania occurred at the Cincinnati mine of the Monongahela River Coal company that entombed 250 men.
On 4/24/1907 a Parkville, Missouri Park College fire destroyed Sherwood Hall, a large three-story frame dormitory connected to a large one-story frame building used as a dining room for the dormitory.