Firefighter Close Calls

On 3/11/1948 in Asheville, North Carolina a hospital fire claimed the lives of nine female patients including Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald, in the four-story central building of the Highland Hospital for nervous diseases, a mental hospital that is believed to have started in the kitchen… Originally known as “Dr. Carroll’s Sanatorium,” […]

One firefighter was injured falling through the roof of a garage in Harford County as they battled a blaze that broke out in a Darlington garage early on Friday morning. Shortly before 3 a.m. on Friday, March 10, crews from the Darlington Volunteer Fire Company were called to the 3300 block of Hughes Road in […]

A firefighter was injured while battling a blaze in Bristol Thursday morning. Firefighters responded to a home on Lacava Road around 3:30 a.m. and found heavy fire coming from the home, according to fire officials. After making their way into the home, the decision was made to back out and fight the fire from the […]

On 3/10/1941 the Strand Theater fire killed thirteen and injured twenty firefighters on School Street between Main Street and City Hall in the City of Brockton   Massachusetts. The theater was considered a leader in modern fire safety with fireproof construction, 20% more exits than required by state law, and the stage included a dry pipe […]

On 3/9/1914 the Missouri Athletic Club & Bank building fire killed thirty-seven people and twenty-nine were injured in Saint Louis, Missouri when the seven-story hotel owned by the Boastman’s Bank located on the corner of Washington Avenue and Fourth street was destroyed around 2:00 a.m. The fire was believed to have started in the dining […]

YONKERS, New York (WABC) — At least 1 person was killed and several others were rescued in a massive apartment fire in Yonkers. Flames began shooting out of the top of the Mona Lisa Cooperative Residence on Bronx River Road at around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. The fire started on the first floor, but has been burning […]

WOODSIDE, Queens (WABC) — At least nine firefighters were injured in a five-alarm blaze that tore through four homes in Queens. The FDNY responded to the scene at 37-18 59th Street in Woodside shortly after receiving the call around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday. They found the home fully engulfed in flames that spread to three other neighboring […]

COHOES, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A firefighter was sent to the hospital for multiple injuries after a fire in Cohoes Tuesday morning. Crews responded to an apartment building on Johnston Avenue, near the site of the former Saint Agnes School. No other injuries were reported; however, 16 people were displaced. According to the Red Cross, eight […]

On 3/8/1915 The Fire Department of New York City (FDNY) Rescue Company 1 was placed in service, “at 8:00 a.m. Captain John McElligott picked up the phone at the housewatch desk of the Great Jones Street firehouse and told the dispatcher that Rescue Company 1 was in service. After the difficult and deadly subway fire […]

On 3/7/1929 six Scribner, Nebraska firefighters “lost their lives by the explosion of 500 pounds of dynamite stored in the barn of a county commissioner of Dodge County just outside the city limits of Scribner. The barn caught fire and the firefighters of Scribner rushed to the scene and were attempting to extinguish the blaze […]

BELINGTON, W.Va. — A Belington resident and two local firefighters were injured in a house fire Saturday evening in Belington. The blaze was reported at a single-story house on Talbott Road at just after 5:30 p.m. Emergency radio traffic indicated the woman in the house had a physical disability. Firefighters, who were on the scene in […]

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — Two people are displaced and one firefighter is injured after a blaze in Durham Sunday afternoon. On Sunday at 2:05 p.m., the Durham Fire Department was dispatched and responded with 48 firefighters to the 500 block of Woods Street for a reported firre. After arriving, firefighters saw smoke billowing from a […]

From the FDNY Facebook Page: “This is an extraordinary amount of damage from this single e-bike. This call came in around 10:41 a.m. this morning. We are still here fighting this fire. We have over 50 units, Fire and EMS, on scene. We have over 200 members. We have seven injuries, five firefighters, one member […]

By Bill Laytner, Detroit Free Press: Mike Nevin, a recently retired battalion chief and former head of the union of Detroit’s firefighters, was found dead Thursday evening of a heart attack, according to family members. Nevin of St. Clair Shores was 57. He spent his entire career as a firefighter in Detroit and was the […]

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — During a press conference regarding the damage and power outages wrought by Friday’s storms, it was said that a firefighter was injured in connection with the aftermath. A house caught on fire on Tyler Avenue in the Portland neighborhood due to a storm debris yard fire burning out of control, according to Louisville […]

On 3/6/1982 the Westchase Hilton Hotel fire in Houston, Texas killed twelve of the thirty occupants on the 4th  floor. A fire-resistive 13-story structure had a fire detection system that alerted the front desk. Around 2:00 a.m. the alarm sounded, and the clerk shut it off twice. One of the 200 guests reported the smoke […]

On 3/5/1770 a false alarm of fire led to confrontations that result in the Boston Massacre, known to the British as the Incident on King Street, which left five civilians dead at the hands of British troops. “British troops had been stationed in the Province of Massachusetts Bay since 1768 to support crown-appointed officials and […]

On 3/4/1908 the Collinwood School (near Cleveland, Ohio) fire (also known as the Lake View School Fire) occurred on Ash Wednesday and killed 172 students, two teachers, and a rescuer. The fire started in the four-story schoolhouse built of ordinary construction when a steam pipe overheated a floor joist. The open stairway allowed the fire […]

On 3/3/1898 the Every One’s Home Hotel, the adjoining saloon, and the dance hall in Dyea, Alaska were destroyed by a fire that killed five guests where more than twenty persons were sleeping. On 3/3/1883 an Albany, New York firefighter was killed while operating at a general alarm grain elevator fire. On 3/3/1884 a Philadelphia, […]

By Anthony Reyes, WKBW: The Buffalo Fire Department has identified the firefighter that was killed in the four-alarm fire on Main Street as 37-year-old Jason Arno. Arno was a three-year member of the department and worked out of Engine 2. In a statement on its Facebook page, the department said in part that Arno “made […]