In Baltimore, Maryland, a small fire in the business district is
wind-whipped into an uncontrollable conflagration that engulfs
a large portion of the city by evening. The fire is believed to have
been started by a discarded cigarette in the basement of the
Hurst Building.
When the blaze finally burned down after 31 hours, an 80-block
area of the downtown area, stretching from the waterfront to
Mount Vernon on Charles Street, had been destroyed. More
than 1,500 buildings were completely leveled, and some 1,000
severely damaged, bringing property loss from the disaster to
an estimated $100 million.
Miraculously, official reports said no lives were lost—although
some reports did claim one man perished—and Baltimore’s
domed City Hall, built in 1867, was preserved.
The Baltimore fire was deemed to be the nations third worst fire,
after the Chicago Fire and the San Francisco Fire following the earthquake.
The John E. Hurst Building.
It was a 6 story dry goods company, almost everything inside
was flammable. The other firemen inside were able to escape
without injury, however, the lead horse for Engine 15 was
severely burned.
The remains of the Hurst Building. One of the teams of horses used to pull the engines is visible on the left.
A 1 ton, white Percheron draft horse, named Goliath, the lead
of the three horse team, was pulling the Hale Water Tower into
position on Liberty Street when the building exploded.
Goliath survived his injuries, although he spent 6 months under
the vets care. He went back to being a fire horse, but became a
favorite with children at parades.
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