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.

THIS PAST SUMMER TWO MEN, JOHN ROUSSEAU AND MICHAEL DRESLINSKI, both age 28, went on a cross-country burning spree in Massachusetts.

One of their targets on August 12 was the birthplace and childhood home of Mary Sawyer, the famed namesake of “Mary Had A Little Lamb” fame.  It was located in the town of Sterling.

The two men have been held without bail in another county since August after being charged with arsons and assorted felonies there.  They were to have been transported to Worcester today to answer charges on the fires there, but one of them was unable to be transported.  Their arraignment was re-set for February 19.

They were implicated in one of the fires, a vacant paper mill, by recordings of their movements made by a GPS receiver that had been implanted on their vehicle by court order relating to still another case.

The Worcester Telegram has the REPORT.

*  *  *  *  *

Mary Elizabeth Sawyer was 14 yrs. when she reportedly allowed her pet lamb follow her to school one day.  The resultant conflict with the teacher and the antics of the lamb caused a lot of mirth with the other students and one of them later on, while in college, wrote the famous poem about Mary Had A Little Lamb.

The house was still owned by the descendants of Mary but it has been unused for decades and was in serious disrepair.  The house never had electricity nor plumbing, but was a nostalgic connection with one of America’s most famous nursery rhymes.

Wickipedia entry containing the history of the poem and the lyrics is HERE.

The Sterling Fire Dept. has a website and their apparatus page is HERE.

*  *  *  *  *

As a side note, you may recall that when Thomas Edison invented his phonograph machine, the first recording he made was a recitation of “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

This movie newsreel was made 50 years later in 1927 and shows Edison reciting the poem once again.

DURING WORLD WAR II, POLISH SOLDIERS SERVING THE ALLIED FORCES were stationed in Iran where they found a bear cub.  Adopting it as a pet and naming him Voytek, they raised it and as it got bigger and stronger they trained it to carry heavy mortar rounds.

That wasn’t the only thing he learned.  He could smoke cigarettes and loved to drink beer.

Imperial War Museum photo

When their regiment was shipped out to Italy for the invasion, the only way they could bring their bear along was to “enlist” it.  So they gave him a name, a rank and a serial number and took him along.  He served well at the Battle of Monte Cassino, delivering his ammuntion under fire.

After the invasion, the Polish troops were billeted at an army base in Scotland where they remained until war’s end.  When the Poles were demobilized, Voytek was transferred to the Edinburgh Zoo where he remained until his death in 1963.

Now there is a grass-roots campaign in Edinburgh to build a memorial to the beer-drinking freedom fighter to keep the memory of his accomplishments in the war effort alive.

The Daily Mail has the full STORY.  Be sure to read it.

IF YOU HAVE BEEN READING STATTER911 TODAY, you have seen the series of videos that he has posted (HERE) taken this past Saturday in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania.  The aging coal-mining town suffered a destuctive downtown fire that destroyed two of its larger buildings and two other business.

But as bad as it was, it doesn’t compare to the devastation that took place in one of its neighbors just over the mountain to the west.  Taking SR 54 west out of town you have but an 8-mile journey to what’s left of Centralia, a town that has been burning for 46 years and still going.

Sitting right on top of one of the world’s richest veins of anthracite coal, Centralia was a prosperous community for more than 100 years with its citizens working in and servicing the four major coal mines in the area.

In 1961, as the coal industry was dwindling, a fire in the town dump burned down through a fissure and got into the coal vein and began burning the anthracite.  As the fire slowly spread underneath the borough, openings would appear in the ground emitting steam and hot gasses.  Eventually the carbon monoxide levels began rising in many of the homes and people were forced to leave.

Over the next 20 years the state and the U.S. Dept. of Interior tried some stop-gap measures to contain the fire, but it was never enough of an effort to really be effective.

Then in 1981 a 12-yr.-old boy, Todd Domboski,  was walking in a neighbor’s back yard when he fell into a hole that just opened up.  As he went down the 4-ft. wide hole, he caught onto a tree root and held on until he was rescued.  The hole was 150 ft. deep and went literally into the depths of hell, the fire itself.

The publicity that Domboski’s adventure generated brought nationwide attention to the plight of the town.  But by then it was too late.  Conditions got so bad that in the late 1980’s the Federal Government set up a funding scheme to buy out the residents and relocate them.  Many of them are living in Shenandoah today.

As the government bought the homes, they would demolish them.  Over the last 15 years this once-vibrant town of thousands filled with stores, churches, gas stations and schools has dwindled down to just a dozen buildings and its last seven residents.

Then and Now, 1986-2006





offroaders.com photos

And the fire still burns.  The experts say it will burn for another 100 years at least.

If you are interested in reading about the tragic demise of this town, I can recommend a book that came out earlier this year.  The Day The Earth Caved In by Joan Quigley, whose family goes back four generations in Centralia, tells the story of all the efforts and failures to save the town.

NOVEMBER 18 OF 1987 WAS one of the worst days in the history of the London Underground (Subway).  It was on that tragic day that a fire on the platform of the King’s Cross station took the lives of 31 people including a firefighter, Colin Townsley.

The King’s Cross station, one of the busiest on the entire tube railway system, is a large interchange that is built on two levels.  The first is a sub-surface platform that serves two lines and the other is a deep-level platform serving three other lines including the Picadilly Line.  Also, the station was still equipped with the old wooden escalators and original machinery.  The escalator trough was loaded with decades of oil drippings and trash.

Sometime prior to 7:30 pm a carelessly discarded cigarette dropped down into the space below the escalator leading to the Picadilly Line and started a fire.  As it spread into the grease track that runs beneath the treads, the fire laid down and burned horizontally along the track instead of vertically where it would have been noticed sooner.  It is believed that the air pressures from the trains pushing through the tubes generated the air flow that led to this effect.

Around 7:32 smoke began showing around the balustrade of the escalator and a call went to the London Fire Brigade shortly after.  At 7:36 the fire brigade dispatched four engines and one aerial and the first unit arrived at 7:42.  This first company of firefighters went down from street level into the ticketing hall from where they could see a fire burning about 20 feet down the escalator shaft with four feet high flames emerging from the escalator stairs. At this stage there were still passengers exiting from the platforms below in an orderly manner.

While two of the firefighters remained to close off passenger access to the escalator, the others returned to get their hose and SCBA’s.  All this time the fire was laying along the trackway and heating the wooden treads of the escalator.  Suddenly at 7:45 the heat had reached the level to cause a flashover and fire erupted like a torch throughout the escalator pathway.  The jet of flame reached into the ticketing hall above and set everything flammable afire, including the ceiling paint which caused a thick, noxious smoke that caused almost all the deaths.  Later, firefighters would describe descending down the stairwell as like climbing down into a volcano.

While this was taking place, trains continued to stop and discharge passengers onto the platform crowded with people fleeing the fire.

Eventually there were 30 crews of over 150 firefighters on the scene and the fire was officially declared out at 1:46 am, six hours later.  It left 31 people dead including the Senior Officer of the 1st-due company, Colin Townsley who died of smoke inhalation while trying to rescue a woman.

The London Fire Brigade has posted the report from the London Fire Journal HERE.

Click to play to play the comtemporary
video report from IT News

THE COMPANY HISTORIAN OF NEPTUNE HOSE CO. NO. 1 in Long Branch, New Jersey, has plenty to smile about these days.

The fire company was founded in 1877 and badge #6 was issued to James Bart “Bartie” Flinn who later went on to become the Fire Chief of the Long Branch Fire Department.  Bartie was one of those memorable characters who has been revered down through the years because of his dedication and contributions to the department.

But his original badge hadn’t been seen since the late 1880’s and was long thought to be gone forever.  That is until somebody started rummaging through some boxes of old stuff piled away in a storage room in FD headquarters and found a box of dusty old buttons.  Amongst the pile was the old badge #6 and he knew right away what he had found.

Recently a ceremony was held as Bartie’s badge was returned to the Neptune Hose fire station where it will be displayed in a new artifact display room.

Read the full story about Chief “Bartie” and how his badge was found in the Asbury Park Press HERE.

PORTER WAGONER WAS BURIED TODAY. The long-running star of the Grand Ole Opry passed away this past Sunday, October 28. The flamboyant entertainer recognized by his sequined suits and pompadour hairdo had one of the longest-running acts in country music. In May of this year he celebrated his 50th year as a member of the Opry cast.

Born on August 12, 1927, in West Plains, Missouri, he grew up on his family farm. But when he wasn’t busy with the chores he would spend time standing on a tree stump pretending to be the announcer at the Grand Ole Opry, which he listened to on the radio. He got his first guitar from his older brother Glenn, whose death at age 20 from a heart ailment struck Porter hard.

While working at a drygoods store in West Plains, the store owner hired him to sing on a 15-min. radio show that he sponsored. From that beginning he started working the honky-tonk circuit then later became a regular on the Ozark Jubilee, a weekly broadcast from Springfield, Missouri. He also tried song writing. In 1955 he wrote a song for Carl Smith, “Trademark,” that went on to become a #1 hit for Smith. By then he was known throughout the country music industry. It was then that he wrote and recorded “Company’s Comin’,” which became his first #1 hit.

His connection with the Ozark Jubilee landed him a contract with RCA Victor records and in 1956 he wrote and recorded what would become his greatest hit, “Satisfied Mind.” It was #1 on the charts for four weeks and remained on the charts for 8 months. From there it was a quick step into the cast of the Grand Ole Opry.

One of his trademarks was his collection of sequined suits which reached 60 at one point. He would jokingly say that he would get more compliments on his wardrobe than any other entertainer…..except Liberace.

In 1960 be began a weekly television show that ran for an amazing 21 years, until 1981. For any tv show to last that long is remarkable in itself. But for a country music program it was an unmatched acheivement. For the first seven years his singing partner on the show was a lady billed as Pretty Miss Norma Jean, an already-established star in the music business. But in 1967 she left the show to get married and settled down. It was then that Wagoner brought in a rising talent who had been performing since she was 12 years old, Dolly Parton, then 21. The two of them blended together perfectly and the association shot her to the top of the business. They received the Country Music Association’s award for duo of the year in 1970 and 1971.

Over a period of 40 years, Porter placed 81 songs on the country music charts, 19 of them were duets with Dolly. In 2002 he was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. During his career he won 4 Grammy’s, three of them were for gospel tunes. Porter Wagoner was 80 years old. His music will go on for another 80 at least.

Play the video to watch
Porter sing his signature hit
Satisfied Mind

With all the aerial firefighting activity going on in California this week, LightRock takes a look at that funny-looking helicopter, the Air-Crane:

Reuters

Among the many aircraft involved in the firefight in Southern California is a large ungainly looking helicopter that has quite an interesting history.

This helicopter started its life in 1958 when Sikorsky Helicopter began development of a specialized heavy lift helicopter for the U.S. Army. The CH-54 Tarhe (named after a Native American tribal chief nicknamed “The Crane”) made its maiden flight in 1962 and saw extensive service in Vietnam, making its mark recovering downed aircraft. The Army purchased about 150 CH-54’s and Sikorsky built a small number of civilian versions that were designated as the S-64 Skycrane. The CH-54 saw military service for 25-30 years, but that is just the beginning of the story.

Enter Erickson Air-Crane of Central Point, Oregon. This company, as its name implies, is in the heavy lift business and they have built their company around the CH-54/S-64. Erickson is currently, by far and away, the largest owner/operator of the S-64. Perhaps even more notable is that Erickson purchased the production rights to the S-64 from Sikorsky in 1992 and since that time has been remanufacturing older CH-54’s into Erickson S-64E Aircranes and building completely new S-64F Aircranes not only for their own use, but for customers in, among other places, Italy and South Korea. Since purchasing the rights to the S-64 from Sikorsky, Erickson has made over 1,300 changes and improvements to the original design.

Erickson uses the Aircrane to support a number of industries including logging, oil and gas, and construction. One rather well known mission was the removal and, after it was refurbished, subsequent replacement of the statute that sits atop the U.S. Capitol building. Without question, the most visible mission for Aircranes is in supporting firefighting operations and they have been involved in operations around the world. A few years ago, an Aircrane worked a large fire in Australia and, more recently, flew missions during the Greek wildfires this summer.

Reuters

Erickson has continued to evolve and enhance the Aircrane’s firefighting capability. It can carry a load of over 2,500 gallons of water and/or foam/retardant. It can draft water from sources like lakes and ponds. A microprocessor based system controls discharge, adjusting for wind, speed of the helicopter and fire conditions. Erickson has even developed a system that includes a forward mounted water cannon that is capable of discharging 300 GPM, allowing the Aircrane to hover over or near a fire discharging a stream for 8+ minutes.

Next year, it will be 50 years since the inception of this unique helicopter design and it is clear that it will be around for decades to come.

Sky Crane Photo Gallery
click thumbnails to view pix

A 19th-CENTURY MUSIC HALL IN THE TOWN OF NEATH, WALES, was destroyed by a fire late Thursday night.  The Victorian treasure was nearing completion of a £4 million refurbishment and was scheduled to be re-opened as an arts center next Spring.

Evening Post photo

However, the citizens are relieved knowing that all the town’s collection of artifacts and art works that had previously been on display there, had already been removed and safely stored during the renovations.  The archives, records and historic documents which go back to the 1600s were removed about four years ago.

approx. 100 yrs. ago

Built in 1887, the Gwyn Hall Theatre was a local landmark and had served as a music hall, for council work and latterly as a music venue.  After its remodeling it was set to include cinema facilities, an interactive cafe bar, and a state-of-the-art stage and would have provided facilities for concerts and weddings.

The interior was completely gutted and the roof collapsed in the fire.  Currently the cause of the fire is still unknown.

BBC photo

BBC News has the STORY.
The Evening Post has some background HERE.
icWales has a good history of the building HERE.

Click thumbnails to view photo gallery pics

BBC photos

Evening Post photos

BACK IN 2002, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, VOTERS approved a $159 million bond issue to build new and upgrade other police and fire stations in the city.

One of those fire stations needing renovation is Fire Station #2, currently the oldest firehouse still being used by the FD.  It was built 60 years ago and expanded in the 1980’s.  It is also the city’s busiest fire station, running 4,500 calls annually.  But by waiting so long to begin some of the projects, the costs have increased by $6.8 million overall.

In order to be able to complete the modernizations, the Mayor has proposed reducing the spending levels in some projects, including Station #2.  Now instead of spending $9.5 million on #2, the city staff wants to get by with only $7.1 million.

Enter the city councilwoman who represents the district where the fire station is located.  Since it serves a largely-hispanic section of the city, she wants to get in the mud and play the race card in what is no doubt a grandstanding attempt to garner votes.  Never mind that the city is also building a brand new fire station in the same area and is nearly completed.

The mud-fight is just getting started and the San Jose Mercury News brings you up to speed with the latest HERE.

To view images of the station over the years, click on the thumbnails:

Photos courtesy Santa Clara County Fire Dept.
For more Station #2 history click HERE.