This Month in Fire History - September 2024

Let’s begin by acknowledging that any article written about historical fires in the month of September should start, end, and be filled with 9/11-related stories. However, we must also recognize that there were other very significant events that took place in September, including a devasting nightclub fire in Detroit a tragic fire in a nursing home in Nashville, TN, and a wildfire that destroyed a small Oregon town.

Sept. 11, 2001, New York City—World Trade Center Attack

On Sept. 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m., American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Just 17 minutes later, at 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flight 175 struck the South Tower. As the towers burned, thousands fled the scene, but hundreds of New York’s Bravest ran toward the infernos.

Firehouse has extensively covered the attacks from the moment they occurred and the search and recovery efforts that followed to the FDNY funerals and all of the memorials thereafter to the publication of WTC: In Their Own Words, a special 10th anniversary retrospective featuring interviews with those who responded that day.

The late, great Harvey Eisner, put together this masterpiece and here, in his own words, is the reason why: “Right after 9/11, I started hearing bits and pieces of information about firefighters and companies who responded to the World Trade Center. I started keeping a notebook. Telling fire stories to the American Fire Service is what I have done since 1979 with Firehouse Magazine. After hearing about the courage and bravery of those firefighters, who took extreme risks in searching through the rubble, I decided to document history.”

And document it, he did.

In 2021, on the 20th anniversary, Firehouse Editor-in-Chief Peter Matthews remembered the “champions of courage,” John J. Salka Jr. shared his memories, and the magazine paid tribute to the 343.

Of course, New York was not the only site of tragedy that day. Another hijacked flight was headed toward the White House, but the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 fought the terrorists and the plane crashed in a field near Shanksville, PA, at 10:03 a.m.

Terry Shaffer, chief of the Shanksville Volunteer Fire Department, said there's no amount of training and no amount of equipment that could possibly prepare firefighters for the kind of event that happened when America was attacked on Sept. 11, 2001 and Shanksville became the crash site of Flight 93.

Ten years after the incident, Shaffer spoke about the events at Firehouse Expo in Baltimore.

Shaffer said he and his men spent the initial response to the crash putting out spot fires that had ignited in the woods around the crash site and securing the perimeter, knowing it was likely a crime scene. They wanted to keep people out to preserve evidence, but also to protect them.

"We had a hazmat scene with jet fuel and human remains and the bits and pieces of the plane scattered about," Shaffer said. "... The smell of jet fuel and human remains is not something you ever forget."

On the 15^th anniversary, other Shanksville firefighters recalled their 9/11 response.

In Arlington, VA, James Schwartz was the assistant chief of operations at the time. In 2011, the then Chief of the Arlington County, Va. Fire Department told Firehouse “I arrived …about 10 minutes after the airplane hit the building,” he said. From the location of the hit, he immediately knew that it was not where the secretary of defense or joint chiefs of staff were located, but that it would nonetheless be a mass casualty event.

“The fire was significant, with smoke hundreds of feet in the air and casualties that were just strewn across the west lawn,” Schwartz told Firehouse reporter Heather Caspi.

He said responders had some initial disbelief at what was confronting them. However, “There isn’t a lot of time to dwell on the enormity… you’ve got to go to work right away.”

“Emotionally, it’s a very stressful event but there wasn’t time to be thinking about what else was going on,” Schwartz said. Indeed, he did not know of the collapses of the World Center towers until that night, at least 10 hours after they had occurred.

Virginia firefighters who were sent to the Pentagon roof to hit hotspots on Sept. 12, 2001, wound up smack in the middle of a historic moment.

Five years later, Fairfax County and Alexandria firefighters who helped unfurl the stars and stripes returned to the roof for a ceremony.

Sept. 20, 1929, Detroit—Study Club Fire

At approximately 1:32 a.m. on Sept. 20, 1929, a fire broke out at the Study Club, an illegal prohibition-era nightclub in Detroit. While the exact cause was never officially determined, it is believed that the fire may have started in a stairwell, possibly from a discarded cigarette. The owner of the club, who was later arrested, claimed it was a bomb. The stairwell, which was lined with flammable decorations and draperies, quickly became engulfed in flames.

The three-story nightclub had been packed with patrons who were mostly in their 30s. The first floor was a kitchen, while the second floor was a restaurant and dance floor. With the engulfed stairwell being the only way out for those on the second floor, many were trapped. Most of the windows had been boarded up and a fire escape along the side of the building was inaccessible. Some people made their way to the roof and jump to safety, many breaking legs from the fall.

Twenty two people were killed and another 45-50 were injured. Most of the deaths were attributed to suffocation and asphyxiation.

Sept. 25, 2003, Nashville, TN—NHC Nursing Home Fire

On Sept. 25, 2003, a fire at the NHC HealthCare Center nursing home killed eight women that night and eight more succumbed to their injuries in the weeks that followed. Most of the 116 residents were carried out by firefighters or rolled in wheelchairs to safety.

Among the victims was Thelma Connelly, the 96-year-old mother of Nashville District Fire Chief Bobby Connelly, who was off duty but went to the scene, said Deputy Fire Chief Kim Lawson.

Eighty-two residents and one nursing home employee were treated at Nashville hospitals for burns and smoke inhalation.

The only sprinkler in the building was over the grill in the kitchen, which met Tennessee law. When Tennessee adopted a national building code in 1994 that requires sprinklers in residential areas of nursing homes, the center was grandfathered in.

Firehouse.com reported that an exploded aerosol can was found under the body of a woman in a bed believed near where the blaze started, though Metro Nashville investigators have said the can's role in the fire was inconclusive.

Several lawsuits ensued, including one by NHC attorneys claiming the firefighters were negligent.

Surveillance video shows that four minutes after a fire alarm sounded, the first firefighters on the scene walked slowly through the front door and looked around, apparently unaware that there was a blaze on the floor above. It would be another five minutes before the firefighters realized there was a fire, donned their gear and protective clothing and began searching for elderly victims fighting to survive amid the thick black smoke.

Attorneys for the Nashville Fire Department countered by claiming that the video proves that no one on staff alerted the arriving firefighters that there was a fire and that the staff was the negligent party.

Just over a year later, families of victims of a deadly nursing home fire settled 28 of 32 lawsuits against the company that owned the facility.

Sept. 26, 1936, Bandon, OR—The Bandon Fire

On September 26, 1936, a devastating wildfire swept through Bandon, Oregon, nearly destroying the entire town. The fire originated from nearby brush fires that had been burning for several days. With temperatures soaring near 90 degrees Fahrenheit, winds blowing 20-30 mph and a relative humidity that had dropped to 8 percent that afternoon, conditions were ripe for a rapid fire spread.

By evening, Bandon was engulfed in flames. It was reported that the fire was particularly destructive due to widespread gorse, a highly flammable ornamental plant that had spread throughout the town.

According to the Oregon History Project, Bandon resident D.H. Woomer told a Coos Bay Times reporter shortly after the fire: “That Irish hedge was the worst thing—when the fire hit it right across from my house, the flames shot up high into the air. It was just as though there had been gasoline poured on the fire. And water was just no good against it—wouldn’t touch it! The stuff seemed just full of oil.”

Eleven people died and approximately 80 percent of the town’s buildings were destroyed. More than 2,000 residents were left homeless.

Sept. 27, 2020, Northern California—The Glass Fire

The Glass Fire was a wildfire in Northern California that started at 3:48 a.m. on Sept. 27, 2020. The fire was named due to its origin near Glass Mountain Road in Deer Park, Napa County, and it extended into Sonoma County. Initially a single 20-acre brush fire, it rapidly grew and merged with two smaller fires that expanded to 11,000 acres.

Firehouse.com reported when the Glass Fire ripped through a key section of Wine Country, destroying 173 homes in Napa County and 120 in Sonoma County, as well as hundreds of other buildings, including some wineries.

At the height of the fire, an estimated 70,000 people were under evacuation orders.

Heavy smoke had prevented CAL FIRE from using fixed-wing aircraft early on during the blaze, but when the skies cleared three large air tankers, including a 747, joined the fight. The tankers were dropping huge loads of bright orange fire retardant and joined a fleet of helicopters dumping buckets of water or retardant.

While progress was being made, CAL FIRE opened an investigation into allegations that private firefighters were setting illegal backfires to protect properties threatened by the Glass Fire.

Private firefighters may remove flammable objects or carry out preventive measures but are not authorized to use fire.

CAL FIRE did not disclose where in Wine Country the private firefighters were apprehended but confirmed that the incident occurred.

The Glass Fire was fully contained on October 20, 2020, after burning over 67,484 acres and destroying 1,555 structures, including 308 homes and 343 commercial buildings in Napa County, as well as 334 homes in Sonoma County