JUNE 30 MARKED THE 100th ANNIVERSARY OF THE LARGEST EXPLOSION that has been recorded in modern history.  It was on that morning in 1908 that something celestial entered the earth’s atmosphere over Tunguska, Siberia and exploded approx. 3-5 miles above the ground.

The force of the explosion leveled every tree for 30 miles around and knocked people who were miles away off their feet or out of their chairs.  One man described how he was knocked across the room in his house and his shirt was so hot that he thought it was on fire.  And he was 40 miles away.  The light given off from the blast was seen thousands of miles away in London where it was still nighttime.  For several weeks afterward, there was so much dust in the atmosphere refracting the sunlight over Asia and all of Europe that the nighttime was so light that people could read outside.

The most recent scientific deduction is that the explosion was equal in strength to 1,000 atomic bombs of the size that dropped over Hiroshima.  But because of the remoteness of the location and the brutal weather of Siberia, it wasn’t until 1927 that a team of Russian scientists led by Leonid Kulik were able to explore the site.  Even after 30 years the region was still stripped as it was in 1908.  In subsequent visits, Kulik was able to interview some people who were there and lived through the experience.

Leonid Kulik photo taken in 1927

In the decades since, there have been many theories put forth about just what happened.  Of course there are the UFO theories, but none of them have offered any evidence that it was something like an errant space ship that blew up.  The scientific community is certain that it was either a comet, an asteroid or a meteor that came into the atmosphere with such speed that the heat and compression triggered a nuclear-style blast without the radiation.

1928 photo

One of the things that has particularly puzzled the scientists is the lack of an impact crater.  While it’s possible that the whole thing destroyed itself in the blast, they haven’t found the meteorite rocks that you would expect.

A group of Italian scientists from the University of Bologna have a new theory and they will be traveling to Tunguska, the crash site, next month to look for more evidence.  One of them noticed on a prior trip that Lake Cheko, about 5 miles from the hypocenter of the blast, has the physical characteristics of an impact crater.  Sonar soundings of the 165-ft.-deep lake have shown a conical depression in the center that is consistent with meteor impacts.

Lake Cheko (Univ. of Bologna photo)

Univ. of Bologna sonar image of possible
crater site in Lake Cheko.

This video report gives some good background of the event and explains the Italians’ theory about Lake Cheko:

For a good, concise history of the Tunguska event, read the Wikipedia entry HERE.  This article includes a few of Kulik’s interviews and describes the telling blast patterns of the fallen trees.

This photo was taken in 1998, a full 90 years
after the blast, showing one of the original trees
still  there, twisted and just as it has aways been since.

*  *  *  *  *

Ok, let’s get back to business and get this equipment checked out.  I’m going to start the coffee pot.  Then we can meet in the day room and you can tell what you learned about the Tunguska explosion.

A NEW WEBSITE HAS BEEN BROUGHT INTO THE FIRE AND RESCUE WORLD.  It is designed to be a repository of all means of fire history documents.  Aptly named Firehistory its slogan is:  A Historical Repository for the North American Fire Service.

The website is in good hands with Grant Mishoe, the publisher of SConFire.com who, besides his duties as a fire captain and a web publisher, is the curator of the official American LaFrance Museum in North Charleston, South Carolina.

The site shows lots of promise, but he’s relying on your help in stocking the pages with old photos, papers and proclomations.  Click on over to  www.firehistory.org , then look around and see if there’s anything you can contribute.

Good luck, Grant.

THE ESSEX FIRE ENGINE COMPANY No. 1 in Essex, Connecticut, is planning for a big celebration next month.

Essex is the second-0ldest continuously operated fire department in Connecticut.  They were founded on June 22, 1833 and will be celebrating their 175th Anniversary on Sunday, June 22 of this year.

The day’s festivities will start with a large FD parade through town starting at 12:30 pm.  There are approx. 70 fire departments from around New England along with representatives from Essex, England, scheduled to participate.

Following the parade which finishes at the FD Headquarters station, the celebration continues with free food, drink, live music and demonstrations.  An apparatus display area will exhibit both antique and modern fire equipment.

Essex hand-drawn hose cart
circa 1900

Essex Fire Engine Co. #1 is an all-volunteer organization operating out of two stations.  To learn more about the FD as well as the Anniversary plans and the history of the department, go to their website HERE.

IT WAS ON THIS DATE TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO, MAY 11, 1985, that one of the most horrific tragedies to take place at a sporting event occurred.  In Bradford, England, the Bradford City Football (soccer) team was playing at home against the Lincoln City team in a Division 2 contest that was the final game of the season.

Near the end of the first half, a fire broke out in the grandstands that swept through the stadium and killed 56 fans and injured hundreds of others, many seriously burned.

BBC News

Today a commemoration was held in Bradford in honor of those who died in a catastrophe that has had strong, lasting effects on the city.  The BBC News has an ARTICLE on today’s events.  Firegeezer recounted that day in a posting last September and we would like to re-run it for you today:

Bradford’s stadium, Valley Parade, was a 77-yr.-old wooden structure that hadn’t been maintained because of chronic financial difficulties.  With a capacity of 6,000 it was configured to restrict movement of the patrons from one section to another or to gain access to the playing field.

The Lincoln City game was the final one of the season and Bradford had clinched the league championship.  Everybody was ready for a game day of celebration.  But shortly before the completion of the first half, a fire erupted underneath the stands in the G section and spread rapidly, causing panicky fans to pour out of the stands.  The referee stopped the match as the crowd continued to pour onto the pitch.  Within four minutes the fire had raced through the entire grandstand on that side of the field, trapping many patrons in the back.

When it was over, there were 56 people dead, nearly 250 seriously injured, most with severe burns, and another 200 injured but not transported.  Most of the deaths were people trapped in the rear and unable to get out because of inward-opening doors and locked turnstiles.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

The match was being televised regionally.
Click to play this video © Yorkshire Television
Warning: Graphic scenes of people burning.

“Oh, that poor man ….. he’d only come to watch the football…”

San Francisco Earthquake and Great Fire

April 18 - Day 1 HERE.
April 19 - Day 2 HERE.
April 20 - Day 3 HERE.

ON THE FOURTH DAY, the final fire that swept the Mission District was stopped at 20th and Dolores sts. by three thousand volunteers and a few firemen who fought the blaze with knapsacks, brooms and a little water from an operating hydrant at 20th and Church.

This film shows some more of the ruins and street scenes.  Notice the sign reading “safes opened.”  Every business had a large safe and the fire fused most of them shut.  Even those that weren’t had to cool down for several days before they could be opened.  This film also contains the only clip that we have of one of the fire engines.  It appears briefly around the 1:50 minute mark.  Click to play…

The next film shows some more street scenes and one of the early soup lines set up for the refugees.

The thousands of tents sent by the U. S. Army were set up in the city parks and hastily became “home” for tens of thousands of refugees.  Public kitchens were established and the soup lines kept everybody fed and nourished.

Overall, between 225,000 and 300,000 people were left homeless with property damage estimated then at $400 million, which would equal approximately $8.2 billion in today’s dollars.

The following video shows life in the tent city set up in Jefferson Park and finishes with a soup line and soldiers patrolling the line to keep the peace.

The Army then built 5,610 redwood and fir “relief houses” to accommodate 20,000 displaced people. The houses were  grouped in eleven camps, packed close to each other and rented to people for two dollars per month until rebuilding was completed. They were painted olive drab, partly to blend in with the site, and partly because the military had large quantities of olive drab paint on hand. The camps had a peak population of 16,448 people, but by 1907 most people had moved out. The camps were then re-used as garages, storage spaces or shops. The cottages cost on average $100-741 to put up.

Construction yard for refugee housing

The $2 monthly rents went towards the full purchase price of $50. Most of the shacks have been destroyed, but a small number survived. Many of them were 2 or 4 shacks cobbled together to make larger homes.  One of the modest 720 sq ft homes was recently purchased for more than $600,000.

Neighborhood of former refugee homesteads

By 1915 the city was completely rebuilt with scarcely a trace of any earthquake or fire damage. This was accomplished by actually lowering the building standards below the pre-quake requirements. Many of the city’s buildings today are still those that were built under these lesser codes and in effect have large areas of San Francisco even more prone to earthquake damage now than it was in 1906.

A detailed analysis of the city today estimates that an earthquake even less powerful than the 1906 quake would completely destroy many sections of the city and result in thousands of deaths.

When it was all over, there were more than 800 city blocks completely destroyed.  Six months later, due to lack of tax revenue, more than half of the fire department was laid off and stations were closed.  Nothing is new in this world.

This concludes our coverage of the four days of fire and destruction in San Francisco in April 18 - 21, 1906.

San Francisco Earthquake and Great Fire

April 18 - Day 1 HERE.
April 19 - Day 2 HERE.

By 5 am on the third day, the fire had burned as far as Franklin Street and started to circle south.

At the foot of Van Ness Avenue, 16 enlisted men and two officers from the “U.S.S. Chicago” supervised the rescue of 20-30 thousand refugees fleeing the Great Fire. It was the largest evacuation by sea in history.

The impromptu flotilla evacuated the refugees to
Sausalito across the Golden Gate.
(Painting by eyewitness William Alexander Coulter)

Novelist Jack London later penned his experiences in the city during the fire.  He told:

The great stand of the fire-fighters was made Thursday night on Van Ness Avenue. Had they failed here, the comparatively few remaining houses of the city would have been swept. Here were the magnificent residences of the second generation of San Francisco nabobs, and these, in a solid zone, were dynamited down across the path of the fire. Here and there the flames leaped the zone, but these fires were beaten out, principally by the use of wet blankets and rugs.

(view of Chinatown)

On Mission Street lay a dozen steers, in a neat row stretching across the street just as they had been struck down by the flying ruins of the earthquake. The fire had passed through afterward and roasted them. The human dead had been carried away before the fire came. At another place on Mission Street I saw a milk wagon. A steel telegraph pole had smashed down sheer through the driver’s seat and crushed the front wheels. The milk cans lay scattered around. 

Horses killed by falling wall

Jack London further reported:  “Friday night saw the flames finally conquered. Though not until Russian Hill and Telegraph Hill had been swept and three-quarters of a mile of wharves and docks had been licked up.”

“An hour later I was creeping past the shattered dome of the City Hall. Than it there was no better exhibit of the destructive force of the earthquake. Most of the stone had been shaken from the great dome, leaving standing the naked framework of steel. Market Street was piled high with the wreckage, and across the wreckage lay the overthrown pillars of the City Hall shattered into short crosswise sections.”
( Jack London)

Captain Charles Cullen of Engine Co. 6 wrote in his report:

Immediately after the first shake of the earthquake the doors of our Engine House [311 Sixth between Folsom and Shipley streets], shook open and all of our horses ran out into the street and escaped. It was with great difficulty that we got our apparatus out of the station, the floor being parted in the middle and the back of the house settled about three feet or more

The old familiar cry of fire was heard and turning our eyes from our work we beheld threatening flames rising from different directions. My crew was then divided into two squads; one half to fight the flames and the other half immediately proceeded to remove the people injured in their homes. We then proceeded to clean away a perfect net of electric wires which had fallen into the streets. Coupling our Engine to the hydrant located on Sixth St., between Folsom and Clementina streets, we found it impossible to obtain any water from this hydrant and our Engineer not abandoning all hopes of obtaining it, made connections and succeeded in drafting the water left in this broken main. We immediately coupled on another line, and our combined efforts were awarded by being able to stop the fire from crossing Sixth St. 

8:30 pm  Gen. Funston wired the War Department on status of the fire. He advised that Fort Mason has been saved, and some looters have been shot. His telegram said most casualties are in the poorer districts, South of Market St.; not many killed in better portion of the city.  He then issued General Orders No. 37 which placed Lt. Col. George Torney of the Medical Department in full control of sanitation in San Francisco.

This video shows more earthquake and fire ruins and an early tent city set up at one of the city parks.  Click to play the film.

The next film taken later in the week shows the continuing exodus of refugees at the ferry terminal and the beginnings of the reconstruction of the trolley lines.

Tomorrow:  With the fire finally out, housing and feeding the refugees begins in earnest. (HERE)

San Francisco Earthquake and Great Fire 

As Day 2 of the disaster opened up, several large fires were burning unchecked throughout the city. When the earthquake struck just before dawn on the 18th, the fire department was just picking up from a 3-alarm fire in a waterfront cannery. The massive quake was felt from Oregon to Los Angeles with structural damages reported along a 700 mile path along the fault line. By the time the first day was over there had been 135 aftershocks. And now…..there was fire everywhere.

2:00 am California Governor Pardee arrived in Oakland to establish a temporary headquarters for the disaster operations. Nearly 1,000 people were being treated in the hospitals for injuries and the police were burying bodies in the city’s parks because the morgue had filled up. Most of the larger buildings had started burning by then and the army once again tried dynamiting areas to make fire breaks. But their experience with that type of operation was lacking and it was mostly ineffectual.

2:30 am The landmark St. Francis Hotel at Union Square catches fire.

4:00 am Secretary of War Taft ordered 200,000 rations sent to San Francisco from the Vancouver Barracks. Then he ordered all hospital, wall and conical tents sent to San Francisco from Army posts at Vancouver; Forts Douglas, Logan, Snelling, Sheridan and Russell, from San Antonio and the Presidio of Monterey.

By evening time, the fire had reached Van Ness Avenue where the mansions of the city’s wealthiest residents stood. Dynamiting operations were carried out there, too.

Lots cleared by dynamiting

The valiant and unceasing toil of the firefighters is reflected in their official reports that were written after the fire.

Matthew Brown of Truck Company No. 8, reported to the Red Cross headquarters that he had charge of a little girl about 3 years old. Her mother had been killed in a burning building south of Market street the day following the earthquake. Days later, an inspection of records showed that the little girl answered to the description of James Fielding’s missing daughter. The Red Cross nurses believe that a woman who was killed was Fielding’s wife. Brown kept the child at his house in Oakland until Fielding arrived.

Captain Arthur Welch of Engine Co. 7 wrote the following in his final report: 

We afterwards assisted in extricating the dead from the Valencia Hotel ruins, and were able to remove eight bodies. Later in the day we again left for Hayes Valley, and then returned to 17th and Howard [now Van Ness Ave., South] streets [on April 19th], where we assisted in pumping water from the broken water main at this point. The company then worked up Howard St., from 15th to above 18th St., under orders of Battalion chiefs McKittrick, Conlon and Waters.

After a consultation between Battalion Chiefs McKittrick and Conlon I left for 20th and Church streets, with a wagon load of hose. I found water at this point, and also at 21st and Dolores streets. I then returned for two more loads of hose, and in connections with Engines No. 27 and 19 we had sufficient hose to fight the fire down the north side of 20th St. to Mission St., where the fire was extinguished on the morning of April 20th at about 10 a.m.

Captain Daniel Newell of Engine Co. 13 reported:

On April 19th, at about 4 a.m. we were ordered to Fifteenth and Shotwell streets, reporting to Battalion Chief McKittrick. We were able to save the East side of Shotwell Street, north of Fifteenth St. and worked in this vicinity until three p.m. of April 19, 1906. Finding water at Fifteenth and Valencia streets, we led down to Mission St., fighting the fire at that point, but finding the pressure inadequate we removed to Eighteenth and Howard streets, connecting with a broken main.

We next endeavored to obtain water at Church and 20th streets, but finding other Companies in line at this point we assisted in this vicinity until the fire was extinguished on Twentieth Street. We were finally ordered to our quarters at 11 a.m. April 20, 1906, having been in duty 53 hours.

Captain J. Coniff of Engine Co. 26 wrote:

As the alarm and telephone system was out of order there was no way of getting into communication with the chiefs or anyone at the head of the fire department. The Captain of our company sent a man in[to] town to find a chief and ask for orders; Chief Conlon was located at Golden Gate Ave. and Webster Street, where a large fire was burning and which was extinguished after destroying about twelve houses. Chief Conlon gave us orders to patrol our district and warn everybody not to light fires in their stoves, as all chimneys were down.

We were able to obtain a small supply of water from a broken water main [probably at 17th and Howard streets] and by doubling it up with other lines fought the fire in the vicinity of 12th and 13th streets all day on April 19th., and up to the morning of April 20th. As the small supply of water to be obtained was being used by other companies, and finding that we could be of no further service, we left for our quarters in the Richmond district at 7 a.m. Friday April 20th.

We put out a small fire back of a store, and then proceeded to a house nearby which had been shaken off its foundation; after inspecting it to see if anyone was hurt, we turned off the gas in the street, and went to answer a call at California St., near Third Ave. Arriving there we found that a chimney had collapsed from effects of the earthquake, and had buried a man; by cutting away part of the floor and removing the debris we were able to extricate him, after which we placed him under a doctor’s care.

Understandably, there was no filming taking place during the height of the fire. These next two videos were filmed shortly after while the buildings were still smouldering and some initial demolishment of unsafe walls was beginning.

Click to play the film

This second film also includes scenes at one of the street kitchens that was set up for workers and refugees. At the end is a view of guards protecting a bank.

Tomorrow:  The fire continues to spread and the largest evacuation by sea in history takes place. (HERE)

The U. S. Mint is saved

Day 1, April 18 report, click HERE.

AS DAWN APPROACHED SAN FRANCISCO on this date in 1906, the city expected another wonderful day.  The weather in April is the best of the year and the residents were enjoying a prosperity better than they had ever imagined.

The economic boom fueled by the seaport that was now connected to the entire continent with railroad lines, and the continuing influx of minerals from the great western mines brought great wealth to the city.  The Federal government had even constructed a large and permanent mint to assay the valuable metals and strike eagerly needed coinage.

The modern city had electricity, street cars and wide, paved roads.  Large department stores and luxury hotels were landmarks in the city and helped make it famous.

This movie below was taken from the front window of a cable car as it traveled down Market Street, the main downtown artery that leads from Twin Peaks to the Ferry Terminal with its distinctive clock tower.  Click to play the video.

Note the many large, modern commercial buildings,
and notice too the driving practices in the days before
traffic laws and established “rules of the road.”

5:13 am the whole world changed for San Franciscans.  A massive earthquake struck the West Coast that was felt from Coos Bay, Oregon, to Los Angeles and inland to central Nevada.

South of Market St. the ground liquified and virtually every building collapsed and fires broke out in dozens of places.

Fire Chief Dennis Sullivan was mortally injured when the dome of the Palace Theater and Hotel fell onto the firehouse where he lived at 410-412 Bush St.  Fireman James O’Neill was drawing water for the horses at fire station 4 on Howard St. and was killed when the wall of the American Hotel collapsed onto the firehouse.

 6:30 am General Funston at Fort Mason ordered all available troops to Mayor Schmitz.  By 7 am the first soldiers began arriving.  Contrary to popular belief, martial law was NOT declared in the city, but all U. S. Army troops were at the disposal of the mayor for domestic peacekeeping.

8:13 am A major aftershock hit, bringing more collapses and by 11 am scores of downtown buildings were burning.

1:00 pm The Central Fire Alarm Station, located in Chinatown, was ordered to be abandoned.  Shortly after, the Postal Telegraph operators were ordered to shut down and move out, effectively cutting off all communication with the outside world.

As some residents started rioting and large-scale looting began taking place, Mayor Schmitz issued a “shoot-to-kill” proclamation.

Within the next two days about 500 to 1,000 people were shot dead in the streets for looting.  It was later estimated that nearly half of those casualties were not looters, but only people who were trying to save their own belongings from the approaching fires.

This photograph below attests to the fact that some of the looting was carried out by the soldiers themselves.

2:30 pm The army begins dynamiting buildings around the U. S. Mint in an attempt to set up a fire break.

8:00 pm  The mayor believes that the downtown can now be saved.  But he was wrong.  As the fire department attemped to make a stand at the foot of Nob Hill, the residents began torching their own homes and belongings in the belief that their home insurance only covered fire loss and not earthquake damage.

These next two videos show much of the fire and quake damage in the downtown area.  Click to play each.

Tomorrow:  The fires continue out of control throughout the city. (HERE)

One hundred years ago today, April 12, 1908, Palm Sunday started out pleasantly in Chelsea, Massachusetts. The sun was out, the temperature was cool, but a growing wind was up to a steady 30 mph by 8:00 am. The small city of 37,000 across the river from Boston was preparing for their Sunday church services.

Chelsea Square

At 10:44 am a fire alarm was transmitted from box 28 at 2nd and Carter Streets. The responding fire engine found that some rags that had been laid out to dry on a patch of vacant ground had caught on fire. It was easily handled, but while they were there the wind, still growing, blew one of the burning rags onto the roof of a nearby building. The building fire was knocked down rather quickly, but Fire Chief Spencer had cautiously struck a 2nd alarm due to the high winds.

Chelsea’s fire department in those days consited of a chief, one assistant chief, 21 full-time firefighters and 56 call firemen. Chief Spencer’s apparatus roster consisted of 3 steamers, 2 hose wagons, 1 chemical wagon, 1 ladder truck and 24 horses.

Chelsea FD Ladder 1 & Chemical 1

While they were picking up from the bulding fire on Carter Street they noticed a new fire starting up at a 3-story shop building 100 yards away. Within seconds it was fully involved. Chief Spencer immediately struck the “box 698″ signal which sent a mutual aid call for Boston’s FD. While this was happening, the wind carried more flaming debris to several other buildings including a tar paper factory across the street. The burning tar papers emitted an intense heat and set a nearby shed that was used to store gasoline alight. The shed blew up and it was “Katy, bar the door” from then on.

City Hall block and 2 churches

The fire roared out of control as the gale winds raised to 40 mph with moments where they hit 60. The fast-moving fire raced through the city’s downtown and industrial tenement district eventually consuming ½ the city, 492 acres and 2 bridges.

Everett Ave.

Within 10 hours, 18 miles of streets suffered the loss of over 3,000 buildings and leaving 18,000 people homeless. Half of all the curbstones literally crumbled from the searing heat. The city lost 13 churches, 8 schools, 4 banks, the hospital, library, City Hall, Post Office and 4 newspapers. The home town of Horatio Alger was left a pile of ashes.

Broadway north from Everett

Church at 5th and Chestnut

All photos courtesy Chelsea Historical Society.

Chelsea Historical Society WEBSITE.
Chelsea Fire Department HISTORY.

ONE OF CANADA’S MOST TREASURED LANDMARKS, THE QUEBEC CITY ARMORY BURNED DOWN FRIDAY NIGHT.

AP/Candadian Press photo

The postcard building situated on the historic Plains of Abraham was still in military service as the home of an army reserve unit.  But the architecturally-significant structure has long been a tourist attraction as well and was being renovated to accommodate activities during this year’s festivities marking Canada’s  Quebec City’s 400th birthday.

photo by Zabelle

The fire, which began around 9:30 pm, is believed to have started in the main hall which is world renowned for its massive, decorative wooden ceiling, the largest in Canada.

Within an hour large parts of the building began collapsing.  The 100+ firefighters on the job had to resort to an outside defensive attack.  Most of the structure that was built in 1884 has come down by daybreak, leaving only part of one wall and the two landmark conical towers.

Canadian Press / Allard photo

An army spokesman confirmed that no military activities were taking place inside the building last night. He added that firefighters were doing their best to save the regimental museum at the east end of the building and the officers’ mess hall at the western end.  Many of the military artifacts that were displayed in the hall may have been saved by firefighters before they had to retreat.  It is not yet known if some of the displays had already been temporarily removed for the renovation program.

Canadian Press / Allard photo

Update:
The mayor of Quebec has called for the armory hall to be rebuilt, as it is a major piece of the history of Canada.

The archives and many displays were involved in the fire, but firefighters managed to remove many of the old documents and military displays before they were pulled out of the building.  It will not be known until later how many of the historic artifacts have been lost to the fire.

As dawn arrived, only the walls of the historic
drill hall and military museum were left.
(Canadian Press / Allard photo)

The Toronto Globe and Mail has a good early REPORT.