Today in Fire History 7/1

On 7/1/1988 the Hackensack Ford fire killed five firefighters from the Hackensack (New Jersey) 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 had been 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 firefighter 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.”

On 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.”

On 7/1/1892 a Woodland, California firefighter “died of the injuries he sustained while operating at a fire. He was moving a hose line in the collapse zone.”

On 7/1/1926 a Boston, Massachusetts 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 10:50 p.m. Several other members were injured and placed off duty.”

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

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

On 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.

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

On 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.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

On 7/1/1880 the pleasure steamer Mary boiler exploded at the Hotel Saint Louis Dock killing four and injuring seven in Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota.?

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

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

On 7/1/1997 Hong Kong was returned to China.

On 7/1/1946 Operation Crossroads was initiated; the U.S. began the testing of nuclear weapons at the Bikini Atoll.

On 7/1/1942 during World War II the Battle of El Alamein began?

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

On 7/1/1916 during World War I the 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.

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

On 7/1/1887 Gunfighter Clay Allison was killed.

On 7/1/1867 Canadian Independence Day was established

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

On 7/1/1863 the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg (Pennsylvania), 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”?