Today in Fire History 8/16
On 8/16/1888 a Sanford, Florida firefighter “died of the injuries he sustained after he reportedly either fell through the floor or was on the second floor and fell into an open elevator shaft and was buried under a shipment of large iron ranges while operating at a fire in the DeForest Block building, which at the time was a hardware store.”
On 8/16/1893 a Saint Paul, Minnesota firefighter “died in a fall from a ladder when overcome by gas at a fire, 148 East 3rd Street.”
On 8/16/1898 an Ottawa, Canada firefighter “while performing overhaul at a fire on St Patrick Street on the morning of August 6th he stepped on a nail, which ran up through his foot. Although expected to recover, he developed lockjaw and succumbed to the infection. Foot injuries like this led to the development of a steel toe and soled fire boot.”
On 8/16/1907 a Baltimore, Maryland firefighter died while fighting a fire in a straw mat factory. “On arrival, firefighters found the entire fourth floor of a straw mat factory pushing billowing clouds of black smoke. The district chief struck three alarms in rapid succession as the fire raced through 800 rolls of straw matting. Heavy caliber streams were put to work, which darkened down the flames after a while. As firefighters entered the fourth floor to overhaul, it suddenly collapsed down into the third floor, carrying many firefighters with it. Slowly, each man was found and removed from the rubble except for three members of Truck 4. After more digging, two of the men were found alive and removed. Finally, a firefighter’s crushed body was found and removed to the quarters of Truck 4, where his brother firefighters washed his body, dressed him in uniform, and laid him out on the apparatus floor.”
On 8/16/1944 a Toronto, Ontario, Canada firefighter died while fighting a fire at the Barrett Bobby Pin Company. “Companies arriving found a fast-moving fire on the upper floors of a 4-story building and requested a 2nd alarm. Hook and Ladder 7 was dispatched on the 2nd. The firefighter was given the task to raise the 45-foot ladder to the 4th floor. He was standing at the base of the ladder, when a collapse happened and struck him, causing fatal injuries.”
On 8/16/1999 a Huttig, Arkansas firefighter died after he was injured in a fire on August 8, 1999. “The firefighter responded along with others from his Department to a mutual aid call for a fire in a motor home. The owner of the mobile home had just filled the fuel tank, driven the motor home to his residence, and parked the vehicle at the top of his driveway. Upon arriving home, the owner noticed smoke coming from under the hood – he could not extinguish the fire and called the fire department. As the Huttig pumper arrived on the scene and parked about forty feet downhill from the motor home. The firefighter was ordered to pull a 1-½” line from the rear of the Huttig pumper to assist a firefighter from another department that had a booster line from the other department’s pumper on the fire. Before the line could be charged, the fuel tank on the motor home ruptured and sent a flood of burning fuel downhill toward the firefighter, another firefighter, and both pumpers. The firefighter was not wearing any firefighting protective clothing, although he had loaded his protective clothing on the pumper before the response. He was surrounded by flames for an estimated fifteen seconds and was burned over 96% of his body surface and his airway.”
On 8/16/2010 six people died in a Weleetka, Oklahoma house fire that appeared to have started as an electrical fire in the living room; there was only a working smoke alarm in the boy's and only survivor’s bedroom.
On 8/16/1975 a forest fire killed twenty-five in Transkei Veld, South Africa.
On 8/16/1953 at the Brooklyn, New York Navy Yard a gas water heater explosion killed two and injured nine.
On 8/16/1904 a fire in the Spokane, Washington retail district started in the smokehouse of the cold storage company and extended to the liquor company and a furniture company storehouse.
On 8/16/1900 at the Point Breeze Oil Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania a gas explosion and fire in the exhaust house shortly after noon killed five.
On 8/16/1886 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the Black Diamond Steel Works, a four-alarm fire started around 1:00 p.m. on Thirty-First Street and was confined to one building that contained valuable machinery in the center of the immense facility. “Of the 1400 employees, only 125 will be thrown out of work, and they only for thirty days.”
On 8/16/1969 Hurricane Camille crashed ashore on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. A Category 5 hurricane with 190 mph winds and a 24-foot storm surge made landfall in the area near Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi just before midnight. The storm claimed 259 lives. “One persistent account about Camille states that 24 people held a "hurricane party" on the third floor of the Richelieu Manor Apartments in Pass Christian, Mississippi, in the path of the eyewall as it made landfall. The high storm surge flooded and destroyed the building, killing all but one person.” “A widespread area of western and central Virginia received over 8 inches (200 mm) of rain from Camille's remains, leading to significant flooding across the state. A total of 153 people lost their lives from blunt trauma sustained during mountain slides, related to the flash flooding, not drowning.”
On 8/16/1962 near Quincy, Florida a 16-foot fishing boat jammed with children on a church picnic swamped under the heavy load, and 18 of the 19 persons aboard drowned.
On 8/16/1871 near Jacksonville, Florida the Steamer Lodona was wrecked in a hurricane, and twenty lives were lost.
On 8/16/1977 Elvis Presley died.
On 8/16/1948 George Herman “Babe” Ruth died.
On 8/16/1896 gold was discovered at Klondike River at Dawson in the Yukon.
On 8/16/1861 President Lincoln prohibited Union states from trading with Confederacy.
On 8/16/1812, American General William Hull surrendered Fort Detroit and his army to the British.
On 8/16/1691 Yorktown Virginia was founded.