If there was a significant fire or emergency that occurred 100 years ago in your department, or your department's 100th anniversary is coming up, please drop us a line for possible inclusion in "Rekindles" in an upcoming issue.
Dec. 2, 1896: ATLANTIC CITY, NJ Smoke disrupted a 6 A.M. Mass in St. Monica's Church in the Chelsea section of the city. The congregation was evacuated as the firemen arrived. A line was stretched into the church and the battle was joined. After realizing the church had become severely weakened, the chief called for his men to leave the building. Before all the firemen were able to leave, the steeple crashed through the roof and killed two firemen on a hoseline.
Dec. 2, 1896: CHICAGO Four children left alone by their mother were killed by a smoky fire in their 53rd Avenue house. The fire was apparently started by the children playing with matches. An empty water pail nearby indicated their attempt to fight the flames.
Dec. 8, 1896: MONTREAL An entire block of office buildings on Saint James Street was destroyed during a nighttime fire. The old Bank of Toronto Building was also burned. The total loss reached nearly a half a million dollars.
Dec. 14, 1896: ALTOONA, PA An exploding oil lamp in a dry goods store spread flames throughout the store, which was filled with people. The flames quickly spread to the drug store next door, the Post Office and soon was in every part of the block of three-story brick buildings.
Dec. 17, 1896: PITTSBURGH A bursting ammonia cylinder, used as part of the ice skating rink cooling system, caused a fire in the famous Casino Building. The structure housed an ice rink in the winter and a theater in the summer. The Park Bridge that allowed access to the park also was destroyed by the fire. The fire caused cancellation of a game to be played between Yale and the local champions.
Dec. 19, 1896 Major fires occurred in the following cities on this date: DULUTH, MN (block of buildings); SAULT STE. MARIE, MI (freight warehouse and train cars); HUDSON, NY (knitting mill warehouse); VINELAND, NJ (row of commercial buildings); SHEFFIELD, OH (three people lost in a house fire); and ST. PAUL, MN (the annex of the Ryan Hotel and a row of stores on 7th Street).
Dec. 19, 1896: ELIZABETH, NJ A working toy engine used in a Christmas display exploded and ignited the surrounding decorations and soon began spreading into the store. The first-floor sales area was filled with shoppers who fled in terror. The flames soon spread through the old wood-frame building and began spreading as arriving firemen were further hampered by a severe lack of water. The flames raced down the street, leaping from frame building to frame building. Firemen attempted to cut off the progress of the advancing fire front. For six hours, they battled to control the fire. More than 20 buildings were destroyed.
Dec. 29, 1896: NEWARK, NJ The city was plunged into darkness by a fire in the People's Electric Light and Power Co. plant. Two alarms were transmitted to control the blaze. The entire plant, including 27 dynamos, was destroyed by the fire. Extraordinary efforts by electricians the following day soon restored power to the city.
CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS: The Lyons, IL, Fire Department was formed on Dec. 1, 1896, consisting of one chief, one assistant chief, one captain and seven firemen. The volunteers' first piece of equipment was a Racine Fire Equipment Co. chemical fire wagon … Jessup, PA, Hose Company 1, "Station 31," marks its 100th anniversary this year … The Rochester Protectives, a volunteer salvage company working for and with the Rochester, NY, Fire Department, recently marked the centennial of the only line-of-duty death in its 138-year history. Assistant Foreman Harry B. Austin was at the scene of a fire in a commercial building on Oct. 2, 1896. According to official records, "Through an opening in the sidewalk, made by the Department to gain better access to the fire, he fell to his death into the cellar of the burning building, the fall breaking his neck."
TIME CAPSULE
A DEADLY MONTH FOR THEATER FIRES
December has traditionally been a month of holidays, a time to take the family to a show and enjoy the spirit of the season. There have been times, however, when large numbers of people have gathered to enjoy themselves and have been pitched into a deadly situation.
On Dec. 5, 1876, more than 1,000 people packed the Brooklyn Theater, one of the finest showplaces in the country, to watch a production of "The Two Orphans." Near the end of the last act, a small fire broke out backstage. The actors continued performing until the fire had spread to the stage. Panic swept the upper balcony as smoke and heat spread across the ceiling. Five hundred terrified people jammed the stairway so tightly they were unable to move. The flames and smoke moved in and left 296 dead on the stairs.
The reaction to the fire improved the number and size of exits in theaters across the nation and increased fire inspections in these areas of public assembly. History, unfortunately, has a way of repeating itself and did so 27 years later in Chicago, when flames broke out in the "absolutely fireproof" Iroquois Theater on Dec. 30, 1903.
Three hundred standees were added to the already filled hall. More than 1,900 people, mostly women and children, filled the seats and packed the aisles. During the second act, an arc light was moved too close to a curtain and started a fire. Despite efforts to control the flames, smoke began to fill the hall. Eddie Foy, the star of the show, went onstage and tried to calm the audience as burning pieces of debris rained down on the stage around him from the expanding fire above.
Waves of heat raced across the auditorium and a mad panic charged the crowd. Fleeing patrons were faced with poorly marked exit signs, unfinished fire escapes and inwardly opening doors. Dense smoke and flames swept the hall, leaving 602 people dead.
Philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952) wrote in his book The Life of Reason, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." A point firefighters know all too well.
Paul Hashagen
Compiled by Paul Hashagen
