Today in Fire History 9/28
On 9/28/1800 the first fireboats arrived in the United States. “New York City (NY) volunteer firefighters first mounted a crude hand-operated pump on a small boat, the era of the American fireboat was born. The fireboat would not become a mainstay of the American fire service; however, until after the Civil War when the nation moved into the industrial revolution and became a major force in international trade.”
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On 9/28/1928 two Worcester, Massachusetts firefighters “died after suffering a cardiac arrest caused from smoke inhalation and exhaustion, after operating at a fire.”
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On 9/28/1963 a Little Rock, Arkansas firefighter died “while making an interior attack on a general alarm fire in a one-story auto plant. Three firefighters became trapped when the building suddenly collapsed. Two of the firefighters suffered serious injuries in the collapse. When the third firefighter was found, he was dead. The debris apparently pinched the hose on his mask causing him to suffocate.”
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On 9/28/1989 in Catlett, Virginia an Amtrak Train and Fire Truck collision injured 150 and killed two firefighters. “There was no crossing bar and no warning light at the crossing.”
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On 9/28/1992 around 2:00 a.m. Denver, Colorado firefighters responded to a two-story print shop fire that killed a firefighter working inside the fire building by himself. He was able to shine his hand-light through the second-story window alerting other firefighters outside. A partial floor collapse and intense fire prevented rescuers from reaching the trapped firefighter through the interior. Firefighters laddered and entered the building where the trapped firefighter was located. “Over approximately 55 minutes, several rescuers attempted to remove the victim through a window; however, they were unsuccessful due to the confinement of the space in which they were working.? The fatally injured firefighter was finally removed through a hole which firefighters cut in a wall.”
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On 9/28/1994 a Sallisaw, Oklahoma firefighter “died as a result of critical burns sustained September 13th, when he and six other firefighters were caught in an explosion while operating at a garage fire with a car inside.”
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On 9/28/1936 a gasoline tank explosion killed two and injured ten people and demolished the General Tire Company's service station in downtown Flint, Michigan. “Firefighters said they believed an underground gasoline tank may have been ignited by a spark from a retreading machine in the basement. At least eighteen persons were in the building when the explosion occurred.”
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On 9/28/1923 a Bryan, Texas apartment house was destroyed by a fire that started from a small heater.
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On 9/28/1898 in Weymouth, Massachusetts the Bradley Fertilizer Works factory buildings were destroyed when a fire broke out and spread rapidly, believed to be the result of spontaneous combustion.
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On 9/28/1994 a maritime disaster killed 852 people in Estonia when a large car-and-passenger ferry, sank in the Baltic Sea traveling on an overnight cruise from Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, to Stockholm, Sweden.
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On 9/28/1944 nine died and forty-three persons were hospitalized in Council Bluffs, Iowa after an accident on the North-Western railroad just south of Missouri Valley around 7:30 p.m.
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On 9/28/1918 the Liberty Loan parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania prompted a huge outbreak of the flu epidemic by the time the epidemic ended an estimated 30 million people were dead worldwide.
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On 9/28/1968 Vietnam War Battle for Thuong Duc began.
On 9/28/1781 the American Revolution Battle of Yorktown began.
On 9/28/1066 William the Conqueror’s invasion of England: “William was of Viking origin. Though he spoke a dialect of French and grew up in Normandy, a fiefdom loyal to the French kingdom, he and other Normans descended from Scandinavian invaders. William’s great-great-great-grandfather, Rollo, pillaged northern France with fellow Viking raiders in the late ninth and early 10th centuries, eventually accepting his territory (Normandy, named for the Norsemen who controlled it) in exchange for peace.”