Today in Fire History 9/14

On 9/14/1815 the first use of gooseneck piping for fire engines was reported in Boston, Massachusetts. The early American hand pump fire engines with a solid medal playpipe were called a gooseneck.

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On 9/14/1875 three Manhattan, New York (FDNY) firefighters died during a “public demonstration that was held to demonstrate the first aerial ladders in the FDNY. Four, 97-foot, eight-section, Scott Uda aerials, built by the Concord Wagon Company in Concord, New Hampshire, were purchased for $16,000 from Mrs. Marie Belle Scott-Uda. One of the aerials was raised to its full height and seven firefighters climbed it, spacing themselves up the ladder. Without warning, the ladder snapped about 30 feet up, pitching all seven men to the ground, killing three of them. Two firefighters were killed instantly as they hit the cobblestones. The third firefighter also hit the street and died shortly after as he gasped for air. It was determined that the Fire Commission Secretary had made a deal with Uda to purchase the patent for the aerial if the city bought the aerials from them. It was further discovered that the ladders were of inferior materials and workmanship. During the very first demonstration at the City Hall, there were difficulties in raising a similar ladder, and it broke in half injuring two men. The ladders were placed in storage for ten years and never used.”

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On 9/14/1907 a Brooklyn, New York (FDNY) firefighter “died as a result of burns he sustained on September 4, 1907, while moving a barrel of benzene from the basement of a five-story building. The barrel exploded while being moved.”

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On 9/14/1930 a Los Angeles, California firefighter died after responding to a furniture wholesaler at 919 East Pico Boulevard at 4:44 p.m. “Daniel Gonzales, age 5, one of the several youngsters who had been playing in the elevator shaft, clinging to an interior window ledge. The boy was critically injured when squeezed between the elevator cage and the shaft. Truck 11 raised a 50-foot Bangor ladder, brought the boy down and he was rushed to Central Receiving Hospital. The firefighter was assured that all other youngsters had fled the building and was preparing to leave when he was told that another boy was trapped in the shaft. He went back inside and, while looking up the shaft, slipped and fell head-first 15 feet to the concrete floor of the elevator pit. He died at 9:10 that evening of skull fractures. The report that a second youngster was in the shaft proved to be false.”

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On 9/14/1945 three Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada firefighters were killed fighting a fire in the McMaster Building on Homer Street. The fire went to three alarms and they were buried in the collapse.

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On 9/14/2002 a Muscatine, Iowa firefighter died at a structure fire in a 3-story multifamily residence. “The first firefighters on the scene reported light smoke showing. The first and second floors were clear, but firefighters encountered heavy heat and smoke conditions that prevented their entry to the third floor. The order to ventilate the roof was given. Two firefighters ascended to the roof of the structure on the platform of the aerial tower. One firefighter was not wearing self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), while the second firefighter was wearing an SCBA. When they arrived at the roof, both firefighters got off the platform. The firefighter with the SCBA completed the roof cut with a chain saw but did not open up the roof. Due to the smoke conditions on the roof, the firefighter without an SCBA had been covering his face with his hands. When the roof cut was complete, the firefighter pulled on the other firefighter’s arm and indicated that they urgently needed to get off the roof. As both firefighters headed for the aerial tower platform, the one without the SCBA fell to his hands and knees. The other firefighter attempted to grab him and lead him to the platform, but he was unsuccessful. At this point, the firefighter turned on his back and fell through the roof into the fire area. Firefighters in the interior of the structure heard radio transmissions indicating that he had fallen through the roof. They fought their way into the third floor of the structure. The firefighter was located and removed from the fire area. He was then brought outside the structure approximately 9 minutes after falling through the roof. He was immediately transported to the hospital. The cause of death was listed as smoke inhalation.”

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On 9/14/2015 Indonesia declares a state of emergency as brush-fire smoke chokes the region. Smoke from fires in southern Sumatra pushed air quality to unhealthy levels across the narrow straits in Singapore and Malaysia sickening thousands of people.

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On 9/14/2014 a grain-dust explosion at Nestle Purina plant near Flagstaff, Arizona injured four after dust produced during the food-making process ignited, the explosion blew out several metal doors burning four contractors.

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On 9/14/1907 a mine explosion injured forty in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

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On 9/14/1900 the Stewart Mine explosion killed two in Anaconda, Montana.

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On 9/14/1895 a riverfront candle factory was destroyed by a fire believed to be incendiary on the southeast corner of Vine and Water Streets Cincinnati, Ohio.

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On 9/14/1999 millions of people fled from Hurricane Floyd. As Floyd approached central Florida “Walt Disney World closed its doors in preparation for the first time in its history and NASA operations at Cape Canaveral were shut down to get ready for the coming storm. In all, approximately 3 million people evacuated their homes… Gaining strength over the warm waters of the Caribbean, Floyd was a Category 4 storm when it hit the Florida coast the next day. It turned out to be North Carolina that bore the brunt of Floyd; however, as it landed a direct hit on the state's Cape Fear region... In all, 68 people died from Hurricane Floyd.”

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On 9/14/1901 the 25th President William McKinley Jr. (January 29, 1843 – September 14, 1901) died from an infection after being shot on September 5. He was the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to office… “It was the greatest coffee run in American history. The Ohio boys had been fighting since morning, trapped in the raging battle of Antietam, on September 17, 1862. Suddenly, a 19-year-old William McKinley appeared, under heavy fire, hauling vats of hot coffee…The men held out tin cups, gulped the brew, and started firing again. ‘It was like putting a new regiment in the fight,’ their officer recalled. Three decades later, McKinley ran for president in part on this singular act of caffeinated heroism…At the time, no one found McKinley’s act strange. For Union soldiers, and the lucky Confederates who could scrounge some, coffee fueled the war. Soldiers drank it before marches, after marches, on patrol, and during combat. In their diaries, ‘coffee’ appears more frequently than the words ‘rifle,’ ‘cannon” or ’bullet.’ Ragged veterans and tired nurses agreed with one diarist: ‘Nobody can soldier without coffee.’”

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9/14/1812 Napoleon Bonaparte's Grande Armée enters the city of Moscow, only to find the population evacuated and the Russian army in retreat.