In this month’s column, I present historic fires or significant events in the fire service from June 1916. A reminder: Readers are encouraged to share information from their departments.
June 2, 1916: Mineola, New York: While test piloting a new 135-horsepower battle plane, Walter Niles, an aviator recently returned to the United States from Japan, was streaking across the skies above Long Island at 1,000 feet when he noticed a house fire below. Banking sharply and descending rapidly, the pilot flew his craft to a position where he could shout to people in a field near the burning home. A row of trees obscured the flames from the people in the field until the pilot’s directions brought them toward the burning structure. He watched as the alarm was turned in and the first fire trucks raced toward the scene. Niles then pulled sharply back on his controls and disappeared into the clouds.
June 13, 1916: Baltimore, Maryland: At about 2:00 p.m., workers inside the 181-foot-tall Elevator No. 3 of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Thompson’s Point noticed an odor of smoke and began searching to find the cause. They located a friction point along a conveyor belt inside the huge grain elevator and called for buckets of water and fire extinguishers. A hatch was opened to get better access to the belt. Seconds later, the generated heat ignited grain dust in suspension, causing a violent explosion. Workers below scrambled to escape the blast, but several were overrun by the fast-spreading fire. Alarms were sounded throughout the plant.
Several locomotives with fire extinguishing apparatus moved close. Two nearby fire departments were called and the Baltimore City fireboats Deluge and Cataract were also sent to the scene. The blast had shattered the huge elevator. Flames shot 200 feet into the sky and soon spread to the grain dryer, marine tower, power plant, carpenter’s shop, and other buildings located on the pier adjacent to the blazing elevator. Fifteen minutes after the initial explosion, the elevator collapsed, scattering flaming sections of debris onto boats as well as two ships tied along the dock, igniting them and several railcars. Radiant heat also ignited an ore pier to the west of the elevator. Arriving firefighters could not get within 100 feet of the fire because of the extreme radiant heat and were hard pressed to stop the spreading wall of fire. For an hour and a half, they valiantly battled the fire and the strong winds fanning them. Finally, the situation was brought under control. In all, seven workers were killed, 22 workers were injured, and damages were estimated at more than $1 million.
June 19, 1916: Liverpool, England: A fire broke out at 2:20 a.m. in one of the fourth-floor bedrooms of the Imperial Hotel. Flames spread quickly, cutting off the escape of many guests. Panic spread as the trapped victims scrambled to find a way out of the thick smoke and building heat. Two frantic guests jumped to their deaths from upper-floor windows. The fire brigade arrived and quickly set about stretching lines and raising ladders. Meanwhile, those trapped inside were still trying their best to escape the deadly atmosphere. A soldier took the ingenious action of tying his puttees (ankle-to-knee leg wraps popular in World War I) across his nose and mouth as a filter and dashed through the thick smoke. In another room, a sailor, trapped by flames, ripped up the carpets in the corridor and fashioned an escape slide he attached to the window. Using this slide, he and several other people were able to exit the building safely.
One firefighter (ranked constable with the fire police) was able to climb out a top-floor window carrying an unconscious woman in his arms. Carefully shuffling along a narrow ledge 50 feet above the ground, he reached a waiting ladder and passed her off. Turning around, he returned across the ledge to rescue the woman’s brother. Numerous people were also rescued over ladders as the growing fire was battled. Sadly, five people died as a result of this fire.
June 30, 1916: Seattle, Washington: It was about 10:30 p.m. when the first officer of the USS Burnside was returning from leave. The Burnside, a 171-foot Civil War era sail-assisted steamship, was the only vessel moored at Pier 11 (also known as the Oriental Dock). Reaching the foot of Lenora Street and walking along Railroad Avenue, the officer noticed flames underneath a nearby boxcar. Running to his ship, he gave the alarm to the watchman, who alarmed the crew. The growing flames reached a huge pile of bailed hay, further fueling the fire. As the expanding wall of fire sent waves of radiant heat toward the ship, the crew struggled to push the vessel away from the dock. With sections of her mast’s rigging igniting overhead, the ship was eased back.
Meanwhile, Box 29 was received by the fire department, and Battalion Chief Gilham and his units responded. First in, Chief Gilham transmitted a second alarm on arrival. With fire also taking hold of the wooden pier building, the department would be hard pressed. The chief soon had two fireboats and three pumping engines at work as the second-alarm units were rolling in. Only blocks from the scene, Chief Stetson’s car struck the rear step of Hose 25’s motorized wagon. One firefighter was thrown to the street, fracturing his skull.
As the fire continued spreading, flames reached stored munitions. Six-and-a-half-inch shells and cartridges began exploding, sending fragments screaming through the night sky. The two fireboats and the firefighters manning the hoselines were under constant bombardment as they fought the growing flames. Several hundred feet away, a small boy was struck by a fragment and died within seconds. Under the direction of Chief Stetson, the firefighters were able to hold their positions and extinguish the deadly flames.
