Today in Fire History 7/10

7/10/1866 a Toronto, Ontario, Canada firefighter died after he was injured while working a fire. “Around 11:00 p.m. on July 4, 1866 a fire was spotted in the Cellar Windows of Thomas Tin Ware and Shipway’s Coal Oil Depot, located on the East Side of Young Street near Trinity Square. The firefighter was the IC for the fire, which was brought under control after four stores were destroyed. While supervising the overhaul, without warning, the verandah roof collapsed on him. He was buried under heavy timbers but was rescued quickly and taken to his residence on Queen Street. He died on July 10th from his injuries.”

7/10/1893 thirteen Chicago Firefighters died in the line of duty while fighting the White City fire at the Chicago World’s Fair. “The fire occurred in the Cold Storage Building. This building was a technological marvel of 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, making ice, keeping meat cold and boasting an indoor ice skating rink. Like many buildings at the Fair, the Cold Storage building was erected quickly with little concern for safety. On July 10th, fire erupted in the building killing 17 people in total in front of a crowd of tens of thousands of onlookers. The building was five stories high, designed by architect Franklin P. Burnham in the style of a Moorish palace, with a statue of Christopher Columbus holding a globe at the main entrance. The main building was 255 by 130 feet with plain white walls broken only by windows on the top floor, which was equipped as a skating rink. The towers on each corner of the building rose to 115 feet, with the central tower, which housed the boiler flue, rising a total of 191 feet above street level. The store roof was about 60 feet above street level, and the gallery around the central tower was at a height of about 120 feet. Access to the gallery was provided by a staircase from the top floor, but there was no means of ascent from there to the top of the chimney stack. The construction of the boiler flue had already attracted a great deal of criticism and had caused a few minor fires in June, resulting in the cancellation of most of the insurance policies on the building. The alarm sounded at 1:30 p.m. when a small fire at the top of the flue stack was spotted. The responders came from the World’s Fair fire service and the local fire station, which was only a few blocks away. As on previous occasions, about 12 firefighters climbed onto the roof of the cold store and climbed the staircase from the ice rink on the fifth floor to the gallery of the central tower. From there they nailed boards to the walls to create footholds and climbed up to the narrow ledge that formed the roof of the gallery. However, shortly after reaching the ledge above the gallery, just below the summit of the tower, there was a sudden outburst of flame below them, preceded by a small puff of white smoke. The fire at roof level spread very rapidly and cut off the escape route for the firefighters up the tower. A few were able to slide down the ropes used to drag the hoses up, but the ropes and hoses were quickly burned through, and the rest of the group were left with no means of escape. One by one they jumped the 60 feet from the gallery to the main roof, but all were killed or seriously injured by the fall. The tragedy at the cold storage building of the Chicago World’s Fair on July 10, 1893, was caused by a combination of human error in designing the building, in executing its construction and commissioning, and in responding to the initial fire alarm. The fire would destroy this building, the nearby horse stables and then then jump Stony Island Avenue and burn a couple of other structures before burning itself out.”

7/10/1902 five Toronto, Ontario, Canada firefighters died “while fighting a fire at the P. McIntosh Building on George Street, they were killed when a wall fell on them.”

7/10/2001 the Thirty-Mile Fire in the Okanogan National Forest, WA killed four firefighters. “The Thirty-Mile Fire began when a picnic cooking fire was abandoned and spread to the surrounding forest. The fire was located in the Chewuch River Canyon, about 30 miles north of Winthrop, Washington. The Northwest Regulars #6, a 21-person Type 2 crew from the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, was dispatched to the fire in the early morning hours of July 10, 2001. The crew arrived at the fire at approximately 9:00 a.m. After a safety briefing, the crew went to work at 11:00 a.m. The crews worked until approximately 3:00 p.m. when they stopped to eat, rest, and sharpen their tools. About 4:00 p.m., they responded to a request for help from another crew in the area; two of the three squads were sent to assist. The fire began to develop quickly, and the decision was made to leave the area. The road to safety was cut off by fire progress. The incident commander selected a site near the river that was rocky and had less vegetation than other areas in the canyon. Although several firefighters congregated above the road to monitor the fire, they were not prepared for the suddenness with which it arrived. Six firefighters, including the four that died, deployed their fire shelters above the road. After the fire passed, it was learned that four firefighters had been killed. The cause of death for all four firefighters was asphyxia due to inhalation of superheated products of combustion. Their fellow crewmembers and two civilians survived.”

7/10/2014 Lowell, MA apartment fire killed seven. Three children and four adults, died in two separate third-floor units; in the three-story wood-frame unsprinklered structure built in 1980, with a ground-floor liquor store and nine residential units, one vacant, housing 48-50 people. Witnesses indicate that they did not hear smoke alarms around 4:00 a.m. when three-alarm fire started. Upon arrival heavy fire was showing, the heaviest concentration of fire was in the 2nd- and 3rd-floor apartments. The fire was spotted and reported by a police officer on patrol.

7/10/1927 Bernville, PA a house fire killed six children and their mother.

7/10/1912 Thousand Island, NY a resort park conflagration destroyed the Columbian Hotel, 200 cottages, and the business center of the city.

7/10/1909 Providence, RI shortly after midnight the Texas oil barge Harrison loaded with 180,000 gallons of oil in the harbor burned that destroyed the company's wharf, several of its buildings, and injured two.

7/10/1903 Nome, AK the Golden Gate Hotel fire killed three.

7/10/1902 the Rolling Mill coal mine explosion killed 112 in Johnstown, PA.

7/10/1898 Pittsburgh, PA the World Theatre fire extended to several buildings.

7/10/1888 Paterson, NJ conflagration started in a livery stable and spread rapidly in all direction to a number of wooden buildings.

7/10/1887 Hurley, WI the Alcazar Theatre fire killed seventeen and spreads to five blocks of the town.

7/10/1845 a steamboat boiler explosion killed thirty to forty near New Orleans, LA. 

7/10/1212 the 2nd great medieval fires of London, aka "the Great Fire of Suthwark" began.

7/10/1943 during WW II Allies landed on Sicily.

7/10/1940 Battle of Britain began as Nazi forces attacked by air for 114 days.

7/10/1925 Dayton, TN, the so-called "Monkey Trial" began, John Scopes, a high school teacher, accused of teaching evolution.

7/10/1890 Wyoming becomes 44th state & 1st with female suffrage.

7/10/1887 a dam breaks in Zug, Switzerland, that killed 70.