CARLATA BRADLEY
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.
A launch pad fire during Apollo program tests at Cape Canaveral,
Florida, killed astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II,
and Roger B. Chaffee.
An investigation indicated that a faulty electrical wire inside the
Apollo 1 command module was the probable cause of the fire.
The astronauts, the first Americans to die in a spacecraft, had
been participating in a simulation of the Apollo 1 launch that
was scheduled for the following month.
The Apollo 1 prime crewmembers intended for the first
manned Apollo space flight: (L to R) Edward H. White II,
Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and Roger B. Chaffee.
With locked exits and boarded-up vents, the Iroquois Theater was a perfect death trap.
A fire in the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois, killed more than
600 people on December 30, 1903. It was the deadliest theater fire
in U.S. history. Blocked fire exits and the lack of a fire-safety plan
caused most of the deaths.
Shocking 1903 illustration of the infamous Chicago Iroquois Theater Fire. Originally published in France.
The Oriental Theater, which retained the façade of the ill-
fated Iroquois Theater.
A police photo of ‘Lucy’.
ARLINGTON, Wash. — A family dog in Arlington alerted her
owners to a nearby fire early Friday morning allowing them
to quickly call 911 for help.
Just after 3 a.m. Friday, North County Fire/EMS and Arlington
police officers were sent to a structure fire in the 17900 block
of 31st Drive NE. A detached shop next to a residence had
caught on fire, according to the Arlington Police Department.
While the structure was burning, a neighboring dog named
‘Lucy’ barked, alerting her owners to the fire. They were able
to call the fire department and help their neighbors quickly
extinguish the fire, the APD said.
First responders arrived and helped put out the flames and
ensure it did not spread to anything else on the property. The
APD praised ‘Lucy’, the neighboring pup, for her help.
There were no reported injuries. The cause of the fire is
currently unknown.
(KOMO-TV NEWS)
A photo of Arlington police officers with a hero.