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 […]

AUSTIN, Texas – A firefighter was injured, and a building partially collapsed in a fire at the Avery Ranch Golf Course in Northwest Austin. The Austin Fire Department (AFD) said the firefighter had minor burns and was able to continue working on scene. Firefighters said an employee saw the cart barn on fire around 5:30 a.m. and called […]

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 […]

MUNCIE, Ind. — Three houses in an eastside Muncie neighborhood were severely damaged by fire on Saturday morning. Paul Sykes, a Muncie Fire Department battalion chief, said the blaze was believed to have started in a house that had most recently been lived in by “squatters.” The flames then spread to two nearby houses, which were […]

By Rylee Kirk, Syracuse.com: Two firefighters were injured and multiple livestock died during a barn fire in Otisco on Saturday, firefighters said. Firefighters responded at 6:05 p.m. at the corner of Finlon Road and Buckwheat Road, according to a Facebook post from the Otisco Fire Department. The address was 4001 Finlon Road, according to dispatches from the […]

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. […]