Today in Fire History 7/1

7/1/1988 Hackensack Ford fire killed five firefighters from the Hackensack (NJ) Fire Department when portions of the wood bowstring truss roof at an automobile dealership suddenly collapsed at approximately 3:00 p.m. after 20 minutes of the suppression effort. Tactics were shifted to a defensive posture, before suppression crews could exit from the interior a sudden partial collapse of the truss roof occurred, trapping six firefighters; one trapped fire fighter was able to escape. The first units arriving observed a "heavy smoke condition" at the roof area of the building. “The blaze, which began as a seemingly minor fire in a cockloft between the ceiling and roof of the one-story building, later erupted into an inferno that shot flames 30 feet into the air over the boiling crater of the collapsed roof. Other firefighters were atop the garage area of the burning building cutting through the roof with power saws, apparently to get at the flames in the loft. As they did so, a witness said, part of the roof caved in and the firefighters retreated down ladders and were uninjured.” “The five victims, all veterans of the Hackensack Fire Department, were in a garage at the rear of the sprawling building, shooting water from hoses at the burning ceiling, when a huge section of the roof fell on them with a roar about 3:15 p.m. Minutes later, a series of explosions erupted inside the garage, apparently as the flaming debris ignited the gasoline tanks of cars being repaired at the dealership, Hackensack Ford, on a bend in the Hackensack River five miles west of the George Washington Bridge.

7/1/1834 two Manhattan, New York died “while operating a line at a major fire in a warehouse at Haydock, Clay & Company at 173 Pearl Street, they were killed when they were caught under a collapsing wall. Their bodies were found lying side by side.”

7/1/1892 a Woodland, CA firefighter “died of the injuries he sustained while operating at a fire. He had went to move a hose line in the collapse zone.”

7/1/1926 a Boston, MA firefighter “died as a result of injuries sustained on June 28, 1926. His death was caused by inhalation of nitric acid fumes and celluloid fumes at 20-26 Kingston Street and 77 Bedford Street. Boston Automatic Alarm 447-4 was sounded at 2250 hours. Several other members were injured and placed off duty.”

7/1/1942 a New Britain, CT firefighter “died of the injuries he sustained after being hit with falling bricks as he operated at a fire at the Capitol Theatre.”

7/1/1953 a Bronx, New York (FDNY) firefighter “suffered a fatal heart attack while operating at a five-alarm fire.”

7/1/1957 a Yonkers, NY firefighter died at “a two-alarm fire that began in the "vault-like" basement at the Cross County Shopping Center. While manning a hose-line he suddenly collapsed. He was carried from the building and taken to nearby Cross County Hospital where he passed away.”

7/1/1961 a Brooklyn, New York (FDNY) firefighter died “while operating at a four-alarm fire at 193 Junius St. He was killed when he was caught under a collapsing wall.

7/1/1978 a San Francisco, CA firefighter “died from the injuries he received after having fallen off a roof while operating at a fire.”

7/1/2012 “four members of the North Carolina Air National Guard, members of 145th Airlift Wing, were killed and two seriously injured while working a fire attack mission in South Dakota on the White Draw fire near Edgemont. The firefighting crew of the Air Force C-130H3, carrying a U.S. Forest Service Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System (MAFFS), had been battling wildfires in the days leading up to the crash, including those around Colorado Springs, Colorado.”

7/1/2013 the “largest fire ever” in the Smethwick, West Midlands, England, involved over 100,000 tons of recycling material. The fire started by a sky lantern which landed at a plastics recycling plant. Images of the lantern starting the fire were captured on CCTV.

7/1/1943 Uniontown, PA an early morning fire destroyed two brick buildings, the three-story, 80-room Lafayette Hotel and a four-story department store.

7/1/1919 McAlester, OK the Alderson Mine explosion killed seventeen of the seventy-five miners working in Rock Island Coal Company mine No. 5.

7/1/1904 two mercantile blocks and six warehouses were destroyed by fire in Jefferson, TX.

7/1/1898 Roanoke, VA the Hotel Roanoke was destroyed by fire in the afternoon.

7/1/1885 a tenement house fire, believed to be incendiary, in Cleveland, OH killed two and injured several.

7/1/1880 Lake Minnetoka, MN the pleasure steamer Mary boiler exploded at the Hotel St. Louis Dock killed four and injured seven.  

7/1/1517 the 1st burning of Protestants at stake started in the Netherlands.

7/1/1879 the 1st mechanical water tower built was placed in service in New York, NY.

7/1/1992 a 6.6 earthquake in Big Bear Valley of Los Angeles, CA.

7/1/1997 Hong Kong returned to China.

1946 Operation Crossroads U.S. testing of nuclear weapons at the Bikini Atoll began.

7/1/1942 WW II Battle of El Alamein began 

7/1/1929 U.S. cartoonist Elzie Segar created "Popeye" 

7/1/1916 WW I Battle of the Somme began, and lasted more than four months (141 days) in northern France; casualties topped 1 million, including the deaths of more than 300,000. The first day of the Battle of the Somme was the bloodiest in the British Army’s history.

7/1/1898 the Spanish-American War Battle of San Juan Hill is fought on the southern coast of Cuba.

7/1/1887 Gunfighter Clay Allison was killed.

7/1/1867 Canadian Independence Day.

7/1/1862 Internal Revenue Law imposed the 1st federal taxes on inheritance, tobacco, and on incomes over $600 at a progressive rate.

7/1/1863 Civil War Battle of Gettysburg (PA), the largest military conflict in North American history started when 100,000 Union and 80,000 Confederate forces engage in a 3 day battle; during the first hours Union General Reynolds was killed and the Army of the Potomac relocated to the high ground on the southeast edge of the town forming a 3-mile “fishhook-shaped line running from Culp's Hill on the right flank, along Cemetery Hill and Cemetery Ridge, to the base of Little Round Top; Confederates Army of Northern Virginia held the town, and stretched along a six-mile arc around the Union position”