Today in Fire History 4/23

On 4/23/1940 the Rhythm Club fire killed 207 (209) and injured more than 200 of the over 700 patrons listening to music in Natchez, Mississippi on Saint Catherine Street. The fire started around 11:45 p.m. in the hamburger stand next to the lobby of the one-story wood frame corrugated steel-clad 4,560 square foot (200’ long) building with only one functioning 3-foot inward opening exit door. The windows were nailed shut and the back door was padlocked and boarded shut. The dance hall was a converted blacksmith shop that once had been used as a church, near the business district. The fire reportedly began when a discarded match or cigarette ignited the flammable interior finish including dried Spanish moss hanging from the ceiling quickly spreading fire and trapping the occupants. The Spanish moss-draped over interior rafters as a decoration had been sprayed with petroleum-based insecticide. Dense smoke made movement difficult and many died from smoke inhalation. Some occupants were crushed by the crowd attempting to escape. “The fire began as members of the local Moneywasters Social Club were enjoying the song "Clarinet Lullaby", performed by Walter Barnes and His Royal Creolians orchestra from Chicago.” The Rhythm Club fire is the forgotten nightclub fire. “The club had been a Negro club, staffed and owned by Negroes, patronized by Negroes, and the tragedy was not taken as seriously in 1940. Mississippi was still a segregated state, plagued by the Jim Crow laws.”

On 4/23/1987 a lift slab residential high-rise building under construction collapsed killing twenty-eight construction workers in Bridgeport, Connecticut. “The 'Ambiance Plaza was a 16-story residential project under construction at the corner of Washington Avenue and Coleman Street. Its partially erect frame completely collapsed. The failure was possibly due to high concrete stresses on the floor slabs by the placement process resulting in cracking and ending in a type of punch-through failure. Several observers suggested the collapse was preventable and highlighted the deficiencies of the lift slab construction technique. The collapse prompted a major nationwide federal investigation into lift slab construction. The L'Ambiance Plaza was planned to be a $17.5 million,16-story luxury apartment building with 13 apartment levels topping three parking levels. It consisted of two offset rectangular towers, 63 feet by 112 feet each, connected by an elevator. Seven-inch thick post-tensioned, concrete slabs and steel columns comprised its structural frame. Post-tensioning overcomes the tensile weakness of concrete slabs by placing high-strength steel wires along their length or width before the concrete is poured. After the concrete hardens, hydraulic jacks pull and anchor the wires compressing the concrete. The lift-slab method of construction, first developed in 1948, was utilized in the construction of this building. Following this technique, the floor slabs for all sixteen levels were constructed on the ground, one on top of the other, with bond breakers between them. Then packages of two or three slabs were lifted into a temporary position by a hydraulic lifting apparatus and held into place by steel wedges. This hydraulic lifting apparatus consisted of a hydraulic jack on top of each column with a pair of lifting rods extending down to lifting collars cast in the slab. Once the slabs were positioned correctly, they were permanently attached to the steel columns. Two shear walls in each tower were to provide the lateral resistance for the completed building on all but the top two floors. These two floors depended on the rigid joints between the steel columns and the concrete slabs for their stability. Since the shear wall played such an indispensable role in the lateral stability of the building, the structural drawings specified that during construction the shear walls should be within three floors of the lifted slabs… At the time of the collapse, the building was a little more than halfway completed. In the west tower, the ninth, tenth, and eleventh-floor slab packages were parked in stage IV directly under the twelfth-floor and roof package. The shear walls were about five levels below the lifted slabs. The workmen were tack welding wedges under the ninth, tenth, and eleventh-floor package to temporarily hold them into position when they heard a loud metallic sound followed by rumbling. One ironworker who was installing wedges at the time, looked up to see the slab over him "cracking like ice breaking." Suddenly, the slab fell onto the slab below it, which was unable to support this added weight, and in turn, fell. The entire structure collapsed, first the west tower and then the east tower, in 5 seconds, only 2.5 seconds longer than it would have taken an object to free fall from that height. Two days of frantic rescue operations revealed that 28 construction workers died in the collapse, making it the worst construction accident in New England history.”

On 4/23/1904 three Newark, New Jersey firefighters died from injuries they received at a three-alarm fire at Box 323. “On April 23, a three-alarm fire, Box 323, for the Weiner Company, a five-story brick factory collapsed, while firefighters were operating at the fire in a hardware factory. During the early stages of the blaze, the three top floors of the five-story brick factory building collapsed without warning, burying a score of firefighters under tons of rubble, killing two firefighters immediately and a third died on April 24th and six firefighters had to retire on disability pensions because of injuries rendering them unable to perform their duties.”

On 4/23/1908 a Waukegan, Illinois firefighter was fatally injured while fighting a late-night fire at the North Shore Electric Company. “The fire started at a switchboard in the plant and spread quickly before the on-duty engineer was able to shut off all of the generators and other machinery. The fire department arrived on the scene at 11:18 p.m. Within minutes the fire burned through the belt on a large flywheel that was still operating. The flywheel, more than twenty feet in diameter, broke loose, shattered, and sent pieces crashing through the plant walls. Pieces of the wheel were scattered throughout the neighborhood, including a five-ton piece that was hurled more than one block. The injured firefighter was pulling a hose line into the plant when he was struck by the flywheel’s spoke as it burst through the plant wall. He was caught in the spoke as it rolled away from the plant and plowed through two walls of the nearby Waukegan Ice Company, where it struck and killed a spectator.”

On 4/23/1910 a Manhattan, New York (FDNY) firefighter died as a result of burns sustained while operating at a fire.

On 4/23/1911 an Evansville, Indiana firefighter “died from the injuries he sustained while operating at a warehouse fire at Fisher Brothers Grocery Store, at 11th Avenue and Franklin Street. He came in contact with a falling electric line. Because of his death, the Mayor requested that power companies keep an expert representative on duty to attend to all fires in the city. This policy is still in place today.”

On 4/23/1915 seven Milwaukee, Wisconsin firefighters were poisoned by arsenic fumes, all were sent to the hospital. “A small fire at the Sheffield Standard Plating Company on the second floor of 206-208 Canal Street was caused by a thirty-two-gallon cauldron filled with bubbling chemicals which were boiling and giving off deadly fumes. Firefighters bailed the cauldron out until they could lift it, and then emptied its contents into the sewer. The wooden floor was smoldering, but there was no fire. A Deputy Chief got one whiff of the fumes which poured from the quarters and then ordered the men of Engine 31 and Truck 6 to get out of the place at once. Some chemicals were giving off fumes that the Chief recognized as containing arsenic, and although there was no fire, he knew that the fumes were more deadly than any smoke or flame. Several hours later he was overcome by the poison and five men had been taken to the hospital. Two firefighters of Truck 6 succumbed in the quarters of their company at 77 Canal Street and were removed to Gouverneur Hospital. A Battalion Chief and firefighter, also of Truck 6, became ill later and were hurried to the hospital. Then an alarm came in for a small fire in the upper stories of a rear building back at 17 John Street. A firefighter was working there when he sank. The Fire Department surgeon said he was suffering from poison received at the first fire and sent him to Volunteer Hospital. A Captain of Fire Patrol 1 was also taken sick in quarters but was not removed to the hospital. Then Doctor said he and the Deputy Chief were not as badly affected as the others and probably would recover without going to a hospital. The Chief said that the Canal Street blaze was like a fire in Milwaukee two years ago, after which twelve firefighters, none of whom complained while fighting the fire, died within twenty-four hours of poisoning.”

On 4/23/1929 a Louisville, Kentucky firefighter “fell through a skylight at the Jacobs Shoe Company while battling a blaze there. Thirteen other firefighters were injured.”

On 4/23/1940 a Baltimore, Maryland firefighter died at a three-story brick grain warehouse heavily involved in a fire. “Lines were set up around the building and water was poured on the four-alarm blaze for an hour, when a bulge was noticed in a wall. The members of Truck 6 were ordered to remove the tangle of hose from its extended aerial ladder, so it could be lowered. As four firefighters reached the roof, one of the walls fell with a deafening roar, pulling down the roof with it. The four men clung to the aerial ladder for dear life as a fireball shot from the interior of the building into the sky. Seconds later, another wall fell out onto the street, crushing Truck 6's rig to the ground. The aerial stood straight for a moment, and then, as tons of rubble piled onto the truck, it began to bend until it snapped off at the turntable, pitching the four men into the blazing wreckage of the warehouse. Disregarding their safety, firefighters ran into the burning rubble and dug out the four unconscious men. Three of the men were seriously injured and they were rushed to the hospital. The fourth man was found to be dead, his body broken by the fall into the burning debris from the top of the aerial ladder.”

On 4/23/1996 an Omaha, Nebraska firefighter was killed when the roof collapsed on him at a 4-alarm fire in a commercial building (Dollar General). The firefighter “became trapped in the burning store after an unseen fire in the false ceiling caused the roof to collapse. Firefighters made several attempts to enter the store to rescue him but were pushed back each time by the rapidly escalating blaze. After about 20 minutes, he was rescued and rushed to the hospital, where he later died as a result of smoke inhalation, burns, and severe internal injuries. A 15-year-old was arrested suspected of arson.”

On 4/23/2023 at approximately 3:25 a.m., “a 1st alarm assignment was struck for reports of a structure fire at the Eastford Congregational Church, 8 Church Road, a historic Eastford, Connecticut  Church, built in 1829. Minutes later, a responding unit reported seeing fire through the trees and requested an immediate second alarm. As crews arrived on the scene, they found the church heavily involved, with fire coming through the roof. A 2nd Alarm assignment was struck in addition to a regional Tanker Task Force, due to the lack of hydrants in the immediate area. Early into the firefighting operations, the roof of the church began to collapse and the decision was made to change to a defensive firefighting posture. This decision meant that no crews would be entering the building as it was too hazardous. Firefighters began rapidly deploying hose lines, including 2 ½ inch attack lines and blitz fires (intended to flow large amounts of water onto a fire) to the front of the church. A short time later the steeple of the church collapsed into the structure throwing a plume of fire into the sky.”

On 4/23/2020 according to “the Nampa (California) Fire Marshal a fire started on a third-floor balcony (of a garden apartment complex), then quickly spread to the attached unit, the units on either side, and the attic of the building. It took fire crews nearly 45 minutes to get the flames under control. The entire 12-unit building is unlivable; although only three of the apartment units burned, the other nine all have smoke and water damage.”

On 4/23/1910 a fire that started at about 4:00 p.m. destroyed most of this city of 15,000 inhabitants leaving 5,000 persons homeless. “A fire destroyed seven city blocks in Lake Charles, Louisiana, causing over $750,000 in property damage. The fire started behind a row of buildings on Ryan Street including the unoccupied Opera House, Gunn's Bookstore, and a soft drink stand. The fire spread down Ryan Street to the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, Historic City Hall, and the Parish Courthouse, eventually destroying a swath of downtown two blocks wide and half a mile long to the southeast. The fire raged for four hours and consumed 109 commercial buildings, residences, government offices, and churches.”

On 4/23/1884 a Greenville, Texas fire that started around 3:30 a.m. in a wood frame grocery store on Lee Street spread to several buildings.

On 4/23/1778 at 8:00 a.m., “John Paul Jones, with 30 volunteers from his ship, the USS Ranger, launches a surprise attack on the two harbor forts at Whitehaven, England. Jones’ boat successfully took the southern fort, but a second boat, assigned to attack the northern fort, returned to the Ranger without having done so, claiming to have been scared off by a strange noise. To compensate, Jones decided to burn the southern fort; the blaze ultimately consumed the entire town. It was the only American raid on English shores during the American Revolution.”

On 4/23/1967 Soviet cosmonaut, Vladimir Komarov was killed when his parachute failed to deploy during his spacecraft's landing.

On 4/23/1791 President James Buchanan was born in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.

On 4/23/1564 William Shakespeare was born

On 4/23/1348 the 1st English order of knighthood was founded (Order of Garter)

On 4/23/1014 King Brian Boru, the high king of Ireland was murdered by Vikings.

4/23/0303 St George's Day “is celebrated by several nations, kingdoms, countries, and cities of which Saint George is the patron saint. Most countries which observe St George's Day celebrate it on 23 April, the traditionally accepted date of Saint George's death in 303 AD.”