While we normally look back at major fires that occurred each month, this month we look at some historical moments in time that helped shape the U.S. Fire Service as we know it. We also look back at two deadly fires that took place exactly 79 years apart to the day and the tragic bridge collapse in Baltimore just last year..
March 1, 1911—The Weeks Act
On March 1, 1911, President William Howard Taft signed the Weeks Act into law. The act nationalized the U.S. Forest Service, as neither federal nor state governments owned substantial forested lands east of the Mississippi River before the act’s passage. The Forest History Society quoted one historian as saying, "No single law has been more important in the return of the forests to the eastern United States" than the Weeks Act.
The Weeks Act followed the deadly fire season of 1910 across the western United States. According to Wikipedia, the fire season was particularly rough in Idaho, where 85 people, including 72 firefighters, were killed in fires and more than 3 million acres of land and roughly 8 billion board feet of timber were destroyed by fires that year.
According to Wildfire Today, the Weeks Act not only paved the way for the National Forest System, but also established the nation’s first interagency wildland firefighting effort.
A search on the AI site Perplexity resulted in this list of ways the Weeks Act affected the fire service:
- It established the nation's first interagency wildland firefighting effort.
- The Act provided matching federal funding for state wildfire management spending, enabling state forestry divisions to upgrade their fire control organizations.
- It authorized $150,000 for fighting forest fires and other emergencies, with an additional $1 million for extraordinary fire emergencies.
- The legislation created a foundation for cooperative agreements between the Forest Service and state and private forests for fire prevention and suppression.
- By 1919, 23 states had entered into cooperative agreements with the Forest Service for fire control.
- The Act led to the construction of fire lookout towers and trails, and the hiring of "forest guards" at $50 per month.
- It effectively outlawed some Native American fire management practices, which had long-term consequences for forest health.
March 17, 1631, Boston, MA—Fire Prevention Legislation
According to the Boston Fire Historical Society official website, the first recorded fire in Boston occurred on March 16, 1631, when the wooden chimney of Thomas Sharp caught fire and burned the house to the ground.
In the History of Fire and Fire Codes on www.leg.state.nv.us, the very next day, Boston Gov. John Winthrop passed legislation that banned the construction of wooden chimneys and prohibited the use of thatched roofs on homes. These regulations were implemented to reduce fire risks in the colonial settlement, as wooden chimneys and thatched roofs were found to cause more frequent and dangerous fires throughout the community.
This legislation is considered the first American Building Code and marked the beginning of formal fire safety regulations in what would later become the United States.
March 19, 1896, New York—Beginnings of NFPA
In “The History of the National Fire Protection Association,” Angelo Verzoni writes that in the 1870s, the first patents for fire sprinkler systems were granted. Over the next decade, more advanced designs were created. The problem was plumbers couldn’t keep up with all of the new designs and were having problems with installations.
“With the technology’s rising popularity, they were being widely installed, but they were being installed inconsistently, and it was fast becoming a plumber’s nightmare,” Casey Grant, former executive director of the Fire Protection Research Foundation, wrote in an article marking the 100th anniversary of NFPA. “Something had to be done.”
In fact, Verzoni reports that nine different standards of fire sprinkler piping size were being used within a 100-mile radius of Boston. He adds that a group of insurance and property protection leaders later met to discuss how to manage the situation.
“Following one such meeting in March 1896” Verzoni writes, they “released the ‘Report of Committee on Automatic Sprinkler Protection,’ which would eventually become NFPA 13, Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems."
Later that year, on Nov. 6, 1896, the group officially became the National Fire Protection Association.
March 25, 1911, New York City—Triangle Shirtwaist Building Fire
On March 25, 1911, a discarded cigarette at the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. was to blame for one of the worst tragedies New York City had ever seen. As Paul Hashagen reported in his “Learning from Tragedy” article, “It was about 10 minutes before the 4:45 closing bell when a carelessly discarded match or cigarette ignited a huge pile of scraps beneath a cutting table on the eighth floor. The table itself, also piled high with combustible fabric, was soon burning briskly. Tissue-paper sewing patterns suspended from clotheslines above the tables burst into flames, spreading the fire across the room.”
When firefighters arrived, they found that their ladders were too short to reach the upper floors. The overloaded fire escape soon collapsed. Many workers, unable to escape the inferno, jumped to their deaths. In all, 146 workers lost their lives that day.
As Daniel Byrne reported in his article, “After 100 Years: Lessons Learned from Triangle Shirtwaist” article, “As before there were major advancements in the aftermath of this fire. Not only major labor law reforms and the advancement of Woman's Suffrage, but the seeds of the life safety code were planted; and for the first time in building history, we not only looked at the construction of the building as it related to fire safety, but now what we put inside those buildings. Codes written in blood went into the book.”
March 25, 1990, Bronx, NY—Happy Land Social Club Fire
Exactly 79 years later to the day, after the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, another tragedy struck New York, Unlike the accidental cause of the Shirtwaist fire, then Firehouse Editor-in-Chief Harvey Eisner reported that the Happy Land Social Club blaze was pure arson.
In his May 1990 article, Eisner reported that the “one-alarm fire apparently was set by an angry patron who poured gasoline in the entrance. The flash fire trapped the majority of the victims on the second floor mezzanine that was used as a dance floor.”
March 26, 2024, Baltimore, MD—Francis Scott Key Bridge Collapse
Six construction workers died after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed on March 26, 2024. As reported in an Editor’s Note in the Firehouse.com new story “Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore Collapses after Ship Strike; Six Missing,” the crew of the ship that struck the bridge managed to send a 'Mayday' signal that stopped more traffic from coming onto the bridge. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said that saved lives. Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace said one person was transported to shock trauma early in the incident while another refused to be transported. In the darkness, helicopter crews determined there were vehicles underwater. The temperature of the Patapsco River was about 44 degrees.
Major Incidents This Month in Fire History
March 10, 1941, Brockton, MA—The Strand Theater fire roof collapse kills 13 firefighters
March 22, 2018, York, PA—Piano warehouse collapse kills two firefighters
March 24, 2018, Kanawha County, WV—Apparatus crash kills two volunteer firefighters
