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    This Month in Fire History logo
    Operations & Training

    This Month in Fire History - March 2025

    Steven Shaw
    March 1, 2025
    This month we look at some historical moments in time that helped shape the U.S. Fire Service as we know it.
    Hal Bruno Headshot
    Fire Protection Systems

    Eyewitness to Tragedy: Our Lady of the Angels School Fire

    Hal Bruno
    Dec. 1, 2024
    Longtime Firehouse columnist Hal Bruno was at the scene of the Our Lady of the Angels school fire as an auxiliary Chicago firefighter when he put on his reporter hat.
    Courtesy of Monuments Men and Women Foundation/© David Trozzo, All Rights Reserved.
    The unveiling of the German fire department flag during the ceremony in Washington, D.C.
    Awards, Collectibles & Memorials

    Missing Since WWII: German Fire Department’s Banner Comes Back After 80 Years

    Ryan Baker
    Nov. 19, 2024
    After thinking it was destroyed in World War II, the Wiescherhöfen Fire Department discovered their 1929 flag at the Phoenix Hall of Flame Museum.
    Photo courtesy of the Burton, SC, Fire District
    If the fire service continually educates communities about fire tragedies of the past, public uproar over the needless loss of life can prompt lawmakers to take action to prevent or reduce further loss.
    Community Risk Reduction

    Community Risk Reduction: Knowing History

    Daniel Byrne
    Nov. 15, 2024
    Daniel Byrne issues a clarion call to departments to evolve their CRR efforts to include information about previous fire tragedies, to energize the public to demand lawmakers ...
    Robert Burke
    Memorial to the six Kansas City, MO, Fire Department firefighters killed in the explosion. It is located on State Highway 71, a few hundred feet from the site of the incident.
    Operations & Training

    This Month in Fire History - Nov. 2024

    Steven Shaw
    Nov. 1, 2024
    Did you know that some of the deadliest hotel and nightclub fires in U.S. history happened in the month of November?
    Photos by Michael Daley
    A memorial at the Gloucester City, NJ, Fire Department (GCFD) firehouse honors GCFD Firefighter Thomas Stewart III, Mount Ephraim, NJ, Fire Department Fire Chief James Sylvester and Deputy Chief John West, and the three children who were killed. Problems regarding GCFD culture, training, tactics, communications, personnel assignment and special operations were uncovered from the results of the investigation of the incident. Today, the department’s standards of performance are transformed.
    Operations & Training

    Fire Studies: Lessons Learned—The Gloucester City Tragedy

    Michael Daley
    Oct. 25, 2024
    Michael Daley spoke to one of the members who was rescued during the July 4, 2002, structure fire to hear how that member's department continues to change based on the takeaways...