Firefighter Close Calls

On 12/7/1736 Benjamin Franklin “co-founded the Union Fire Company, also known as the “Bucket Brigade”. It was the first formally organized all-volunteer fire company in the colonies and was shaped after Boston’s Mutual Fire Societies. The difference between the fire societies of Boston and Franklin’s Union Fire Company was that the former protected its members […]

By Preston Stober, NBC 26: A house fire on Tuesday morning has left a family without a home and a firefighter with serious injuries. Marinette Assistant Chief Steve Campbell responded to that fire and one if his men suffered serious injuries after the room he entered spontaneously caught on fire. That fireman was transported to […]

On 12/6/1917 the Mont Blanc, a French munitions ship, exploded in Halifax harbor in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia 20 minutes after a collision with the Norwegian vessel Imo. The explosion and fire killed 1,654, including nine firefighters, and injured 9,000 mostly spectators witnessing the spectacular ship fire. The Mont Blanc was carrying 10 […]

On 12/5/1876 around 300 (295) people died and hundreds were injured in a fire that engulfed the Brooklyn (Conway) Theatre in New York; all 900 seats were filled in the L-shaped auditorium built in 1871 with 5 narrow exits and no fire escapes. “The Two Orphans” a play starring Harry S. Murdock and Kate Claxton […]

On 12/4/1980 Stouffer’s Inn of Westchester (Harrison, New York) conference center fire killed twenty-six and injured at least forty of the approximately ninety-five occupants who were attending meetings in several conference rooms. Seven bodies were found in a closet that the panicked occupants mistook for an exit. The exact cause of the fire remains undetermined. […]

By CBS New York Team Updated on: December 2, 2023 / 11:30 PM EST / CBS New York NEW YORK — There are fewer New York City firefighters on the job due to city budget cuts, according to their union. The Uniformed Firefighters Association tweeted Saturday morning that the FDNY has removed the “fifth firefighter” […]

On 12/3/1999 the Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire claimed the lives of six firefighters in Worcester, Massachusetts. A fire started when a homeless and mentally disabled couple knocked over a candle and fled without reporting it. The structure was located five blocks east of the central business district, near the train station, and adjacent to […]

On 12/2/2016, at approximately 11:20 p.m. a fire broke out in a “former warehouse” converted into an artist collective with living spaces known as Ghost Ship. The warehouse in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland, California, was hosting a concert in a building permitted only for industrial purposes. Residential and entertainment uses were illegal. Thirty-six of […]

On 12/1/1958 Our Lady of the Angels elementary school fire killed ninety-five (92 students and 3 nuns) and another one hundred were seriously injured in Chicago, Illinois at the intersection of West Iowa Street in the mostly Italian-American middle-class community; after smoke, heat, and fire cut off their escape. The two-story structure built in 1910 […]

On 11/30/1872 a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania firefighter, an original member of the paid Philadelphia Fire Department formed on March 15, 1871, died while fighting a fire at Box 3, 2nd, and Dock Streets. “Upon arrival members found smoke showing from the second floor of a four-story tall building. While investigating the extent of the fire, the […]

UNION COUNTY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — Fire hose damage by vehicles disrupted firefighting efforts Tuesday and crews could not save a house, Wesley Chapel Fire Dept. said. “At some point during that process, a vehicle ran over the fire hose,” said Fire Chief Steven McLendon. “They went to turn the fire hydrant on and […]

On 11/29/1988 six firefighters, two entire pumper companies, lost their lives in a construction site explosion while they were extinguishing a fire in Kansas City, Missouri. The fire involved a trailer/magazine containing a blasting mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil and probably had no markings or placards indicating their contents. At 3:40 a.m. they […]

All, Details for the two individual funeral services for Concord-Greene Fire Chief Ralph Stegbauer and Captain Jeff Skaggs (who were killed in the Line of Duty while doing work at their fire station on Saturday) are as follows: CAPTAIN SKAGGS: Visitation for Captain Jeff Skaggs will be Friday, December 1st, from 4 pm to 8 pm. […]

On 11/28/1942 the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire killed 492 occupants and 166 people were injured in Boston, Massachusetts, as fire swept through the nightclub, some patrons died at their tables as toxic smoke rapidly spread through the club. “Panicked victims ran to the only exit they knew, a revolving door that jammed or other doors […]

NEWARK, N.J. — A new U.S. Coast Guard report on the deadly Port Newark fire raises new questions about the training of those who battled the blaze aboard a cargo ship loaded with second-hand vehicles bound for West Africa that led to the deaths of two firefighters in July. That brief preliminary report said the Newark Fire […]

On 11/27/1912 a Waukegan, Illinois corn production plant explosion killed twenty people, injured twenty-five, and wrecked the starch house of the Corn Products Refining Company. An employee reported “the first flash of flame set fire to the powdered starch in the air and the powder exploded with all the force of dynamite. I have been […]

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A firefighter was left with no injuries after falling through a hole in the floor while responding to a residential fire Monday morning, according to the South Bend Fire Department. Crews responded to the scene, in the 1000 block of N. Elmer St., around 8 a.m. for the incident. No residents […]

A home was left in ruin after a third-alarm fire in Schuylkill County. Officials say first responders were called to 31 East Grand Avenue, Tower City, for a working residential fire just before 5:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon. A release from the Tower City Volunteer Fire Company says the fire was upgraded to a third-alarm fire […]

Three firefighters are recovering from injuries suffered while fighting a house fire Sunday morning. Fire crews were called to Rocky Gap Lane just before 6:30 a.m. A two-story home was fully engulfed when crews arrived on scene. Charlotte Fire Department tells us three firefighters were injured when a wall collapsed. Two firefighters were treated on […]

On 11/26/1978 an arson fire at the Holiday Inn-Northwest in the Town of Greece, 1525 West Ridge Road (near Rochester) New York “killed ten people and injured thirty-four. The building was constructed in 1963 and consisted of a wood-frame structure with interior hallways and 91 rooms. The building recently passed a fire inspection. The fire […]