The Boston Fire of 1872 At around 7 pm November 9th 1872, a spark of unknown origin ignited very inflammable materials within the basement of a dry goods store in Summer and Kingston Streets. According to Sammarco (1997), the flames rose to the shaft of the wooden elevator rushing upwards through the floors packed with inflammable rolls of hosiery, cloth, gloves, hoops and laces igniting the wooden roof. Curious spectators assumed that someone had alerted the firefighters. They stared at the blaze for the first twenty crucial minutes before sounding an alarm. Two fire engines came by and instantly gave the second and third alarms which alerted the neighboring fire companies. By quarter to eight, all fire companies had been alerted. All fire …show more content…
Above and beyond the slow call the fire fighters were troubled by a few factors: The Horse Flu and The Gunpowder. The Boston Fire department and other fire departments during that time depended on horses to drive the fire engines, coal carts, hose reels and ladder carts. Many horses in Boston were suffering from epizootic flu (Sammarco, 1997). The fire department was forced to hire men to get firefighting equipment to the fire brigade. During this inferno, groups of concerned Boston residents gathered in and around city hall to plead with Mayor Gaston to permit usage of gunpowder to destroy buildings along the fire path. This ideology was meant to create a barrier in the fire path to inhibit further spread. Initially, the Fire Chief, Damrell objected firmly knowing that gunpowder would cause more harm, but ultimately he consented due to political pressure. He was forced to issue permits to use the gunpowder. Many groups of people without prior experience or training packed gunpowder kegs in the buildings and ignited a fuse. In a short while, the explosions began causing injury to people and blazing debris which in turn ignited the adjacent buildings. At this point, Damrell was forced to stop the use of gunpowder to quench the fire (Sammarco,
Afterwards the first fire truck came but had problems starting up the hose. The firemen say it was due to the cold temperatures. The house was completely on fire until the Abbottsville fire truck appeared to put out the raging flames.
The fire in this case was incendiary, or intentional. We know this because of the traces of gasoline in the remains of the home, the trail of the fire, and the gas cans left empty in the living room of the home. Investigators can rule out that the fire was any of the other three because of the evidence found in the home, along with the circumstantial evidence involving the
Around the time 10:15 P.M. The Ignition of synthetic palm tree decorations is what is believed to have started the raging fire but it was never proved. There are many theories on what happened, but the ignition of fake palm trees by a match is believed to be the case. The main suspect Barney Welansky, had locked exits, concealed others with draperies, and even bricked up one emergency exit to prevent customers from leaving without paying] Coincidentally, on the night of the fire, he was
They didn't want to take any precautions and have any sort of system to prevent a fire, because if they installed sprinklers or mandated company-wide fire drills the
The building was highly flammable and not very safe for people to be in. If there was fire there which nobody thought there was going to be one they could not stop the fire because the fire hose was not connected to the water. This is a little backstory on when Rose was little. She was born on March 27th 1893 in a small town north of vienna.
Lots of people lost their lives to this fire. (Me) On March 25, 1911, a fierce fire broke out at a factory on the ninth floor of a building in New York City. Some of the exits and stairwells had been locked to prevent workers from taking breaks, stealing, and keeping out late
Everything went Wrong On October 8, 1871, Everything Went Wrong” because the Little America and another Fire truck’s engine weren’t newer and it had to be close to the fire and it would be dangerous. The Wind was blowing really hard and it could spread to other houses. Also when they went to the drug store they didn’t pull it quickly enough.
In paragraph 13, the author stated , “the summer had been unusually dry. Between July and October only a few scattered showers had taken place and did not produce much water at all.”. A severe drought could have led to this fire. An area suffering from drought is more likely to have a fire because the environment is dry and has no moisture which can make dried leaves and sticks the perfect fuel. Also, in paragraph 13, the author writes, “What made Sunday different and particularly dangerous was the steady wind blowing in from the southwest.
This paper explores the major fire incident known as the Great Chicago Fire that occurred in the past and its lasting impact on fire suppression and fireground tactics in today's fire service. The Great Chicago Fire, which took place in October 1871, resulted in significant changes in fire safety regulations, building codes, fire suppression techniques, and the overall approach to firefighting. By examining the events leading up to the fire, its devastating consequences, and the subsequent reforms, this paper highlights the lessons learned and the enduring legacy of this historic fire incident. The Great Chicago Fire, one of the most infamous fires in American history, occurred in October 1871.
Also, the town faced many fires near one of the town’s gates, and the residents could start the flames. Camus explains, “People who had returned from quarantine were responsible for these fires” (168). They were burning the houses down and make more mess since they cannot leave their town due to the plaque. The town residents also started “a wave of
Fires are raging across New York City the first one was on March 18, 1741, at the governor 's house in Fort George it grew out of control and destroyed both the governor 's house and the church next to it. After that, fires began to spring up across the city. On April 6, four fires broke out and a black man was seen running from the scene of the fire, he was arrested along with 20 others who are thought to have been involved in some way.
Early on everyone thought the bus boy working the night of the fire was the ignition source. The Melody Lounge was an intimate place with limited lighting and a man decided to remove one of the light bulbs from the palm trees to get his table even more intimate. Once the couple left, the bus boy’s job was to reinsert the light bulb into the palm tree. The bus boy, Stanley Tomaszewski, could not see to insert a new light bulb into one of the artificial palm trees in the Melody Lounge, so he struck a match to give himself light. According to this ignition theory, the bus boy did not see that he had accidentally caught the palm tree on fire when he struck the match.
Another result of the fire was the creation of the American Society of Safety Engineers. Which was Designed for all buildings to fall under the code to make them safer? The American Society of Safety Engineers did just that, and there has not been any other building tragedy fire not caused by arson as severe as the shirtwaist fire. I will now like to return to the original question.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was a devastating fire that killed 146 girls in New York City (Leap for Life, Leap for Death). At this time, citizens of New York were furious and demanded that the government do something to prevent future tragedies. The government responded and the reforms that the government made, it changed the future of New York industry. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, one of history’s deadliest fires, came as a result of outrageously unsafe working conditions, led to a high death toll and injury total, but, ultimately resulted in reforms that helped safeguard future factory workers.
No one knows exactly how the fire started, but they do know how the silence of the library was interrupted by the heat of a distant smoke. They do know how the library erupted with desperate shouts exclaiming the oncoming chaos. They do know how they grabbed their belongings and ran out, leaving the most important people behind. They left the characters, locked away behind the bars of language and the starch white pages of their stories. They left Dorothy and her band of misfits to never make it to the Emerald City.