Today in Fire History 4/28
On 4/28/1873 two Iowa City, Iowa firefighters “died of the injuries they sustained after a wall had collapsed while they were operating at a fire at Market Hall, at the corner of Dubuque Street and Iowa Avenue.”
On 4/28/1903 a Portland, Maine firefighter “died as a result of being badly burned two days earlier at a General Alarm fire at Box 3-64, at Sturdivant's Wharf.”
On 4/28/1935 a Bronx, New York (FDNY) firefighter “died as a result of extreme exhaustion, while operating at an alarm Box # 66-2743, 1504 Charlotte Street.”
On 4/28/1955 “two Chicago, Illinois firefighters died at an arson fire in a hotel at 518 N. Green Street. One firefighter died when a stairway collapsed under him and six other firefighters during the 4-11 fire. The second suffered a heart attack during the blaze and died ten days later. Firefighters rescued more than fifty occupants from the hotel, but seven occupants were killed and more than twenty were injured. Two smaller fires had occurred at the same hotel during the preceding year, and investigators determined that the fatal fire had been deliberately started.”
On 4/28/1959 a Staten Island, New York (FDNY) firefighter died while operating at a single-alarm fire.
On 4/28/2018 five firefighters, and two employees were killed, and seven firefighters were injured at a printed circuit board factory fire in Taoyuan (Taiwan). The high-rise industrial fire eventually required the response of 189 firefighters, including 55 volunteer members, and 67 fire companies. Firefighters arriving at the scene at 9:30 p.m. were advised that some workers were trapped inside, but their exact location was unknown, requiring searches. Firefighters entered the factory at 9:35 p.m., they discovered at about 9:55 p.m. that a furnace had split at the back of the factory, burning down the entire back wall and that the building was about to collapse. Firefighters were ordered to exit the factory immediately. The firefighters died after becoming trapped under heavy machinery. Some firefighters were also injured by acids or other chemicals stored at the factory.
On 4/28/2013 a woman was killed and fifteen injured in a college student house fire in Boston (Allston), Massachusetts in a neighborhood popular with college students from Boston University, “There’s a history of many people living in few apartments.” The fire department later noted that nineteen people lived in the house.
On 4/28/2012 a fire broke out at the residential Al Tayer Tower, a 43-story high-rise building, near Al Nahda Park in Sharjah, Dubai, and displaced hundreds of families. The fire started around 2:30 a.m. Firefighters battled for about five hours to control the flames that engulfed the building. There were no reported casualties. The fire appeared to have started on the first floor of the building.
On 4/28/2010 four children were killed in a single-story apartment building fire on Delaware Street in Fairfield, California shortly after 9:00 p.m.
On 4/28/1995 a gas pipe exploded in South Korea killing more than one hundred people including sixty children about 7:30 a.m.
On 4/28/1994 at approximately 8:30 a.m. a five-alarm fire caused heavy damage to the roof assembly at the Saint Anthony of Padua Church in St. Louis, Missouri from a lightning strike.
On 4/28/1914 Eccles #5 & #6 coal mine, successive explosions and fire killed 181 near Eccles, in Raleigh County, West Virginia.
On 4/28/1895 at 3:30 a.m. the Visalia, California flouring mill was destroyed by fire.
On 4/28/1880 the L. Hunter & Company a croquet factory in Clinton, Maine was destroyed by fire.
On 4/28/1956 the last French troops leave Vietnam.
4/28/1945 Benito Mussolini was executed.
On 4/28/1789 Fletcher Christian led a mutiny on board the HMS Bounty, Captain William Bligh and 18 of his loyal supporters were set adrift in a small, open boat.
On 4/28/1788 Maryland becomes the 7th state to ratify the constitution.
On 4/28/1758 President James Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Virginia