Two firefighters killed, 14 hurt in South Shore fire

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

By KIM JANSSEN, JAMES SCALZITTI AND KARA SPAK Staff Reporters Dec 22, 2010 10:53AM

Two Chicago firefighters died Wednesday morning after they were trapped when a wall collapsed at an abandoned, one-story, brick former laundry building on East 75th Street near South Shore High School.

Four other firefighters also were trapped before being pulled to safety.

Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford confirmed the dead were two firefighters but said he had no information on their rank or fire company. He said 14 other firefighters were injured. Fire officials were not sure how the fire started.

One firefighter died at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and the other died at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Langford said.

Read more: http://www.suntimes.com/2984860-417/firefighters-fire-building-chicago-died.html

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Edited to add: This is getting to be a bad day in Chicago firefighting history. The article goes on to say, "The fire Wednesday came on the 100th anniversary of the Union Stock Yards fire, which killed 21 Chicago firefighters."

As soon as I saw that a collapsing wall had been to blame, I recalled an incident from my hometown. It happened on December 19, 1855.

Memorial Service Recalls City Tragedy

A great calamity had happened and the sternest wept at the spectacle they were forced to behold. We have never known our whole community to be more deeply affected," the newspaper account stated.

It was a Friday night, about midnight, when "the city was alarmed by the cry of fire." Smoke and flames were coming from the third story of a large brick warehouse "occupied as a china store by J.T. Dowell."

According to the Gazette account, "Upon entering the house it was seen it had been deliberately fixed in several places — candles, wicks saturated with camphor and trains of gunpowder leading to the crates being found. The incendiary had prepared for a speedy and sure destruction of the building and its contents. He had left nothing undone to effect his full purpose."

After noting that adjoining buildings were practically unscathed while the contents of the destroyed warehouse were insured for an estimated $20,000 and the building itself for an additional $6,500, the news account stated, "And now, we have to record the most melancholy part of this sad affair" — the death of firefighters.

"About 4 o'clock, on Saturday morning, while the fire was raging in the upper part of Mr. Dowell's store, a large number of citizens, several of them members of the Star Fire Company, were at work in the interior assisting in attempting to extinguish the flames. At this moment the west gable wall of the warehouse fell in ... killing seven of our valued and respected citizens and wounding several others," Mesaris read to the Memorial Service audience.

THOSE WHO DIED in that pre-dawn tragedy were David Appich, George Plain, Robert I. Taylor, John A. Roach, James W. Keene, William S. Evans and J. Carson Green. Each of their names is inscribed on the nozzle of the fire hose found in the debris.

The building in Chicago was said to be inhabited by squatters. I also recall a similar fire from a few years back, perhaps in Connecticut. Oh, here it is. It was in Worcester, Massachusetts. Once again, it was in December.

Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse Fire

The Worcester Cold Storage Warehouse fire was a fire that began on December 3, 1999, in Worcester, Massachusetts. It started when two homeless and mentally disabled people, Thomas Levesque and Julie Ann Barnes, who were living inside the warehouse, knocked over a candle after an argument earlier in the afternoon. Both fled without reporting the fire to emergency services. The structure was located five blocks east of the Worcester central business district, near the Union Station train station and adjacent to Interstate highway 290. The fire would eventually grow to five-alarm status and rage for six days before being brought under control. Firefighting companies from the city and from neighboring towns were called to respond. Six Worcester firefighters died in the fire.

I have seen these links mentioned on a scanner enthusiast list:

CFD audio

CFD terminology

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Firefighters are heroes....It is a tragedy when we lose any.

They are falling like flies here in NYC as a result of the 9/11 rescue efforts that they were involved in. Same is true of police officers, first responders, and even some who worked or lived nearby.
There was a funeral for a 52 year old local firefighter on Monday. He succumbed to lung complications due to debris at the WTC.

[tomm2thumbs]

2. dangerous job, and a sad loss for their families

and this season can only make it more difficult - heroes for sure, but a great loss