That Was Then

These are articles highlighting events from the past.

First Interstate Bank Fire, May 4, 1988

On the 4th of May, 1988, Los Angeles Fire Department crews responded to what became the most devastating high-rise fire in LA history. The 62-story First Interstate Bank, then the tallest structure in the United States west of Chicago, had a fire on the 12th floor and it was rapidly spreading upwards.

As it so happens, [...]

Reuniting the firefighter with the rescued child, 40 years ago

In 1968, a white firefighter saved a black baby girl, touching the heart of a divided city. The two did not meet again. Until yesterday.
Article and picture from the Boston Globe.
The firefighter crawled on his stomach through the pitch-black apartment, the smoke so thick he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. Somewhere [...]

130 Years Ago Today: The Origins of the Fire Pole

April 21, 1878: Firefighter George Reid, of Engine Company 21 in Chicago, is busy unloading hay for the horses that pull their fire engines. As the story goes, he was on the third floor when an alarm rang, and rather than dashing down the flights of stairs, he took the easiest way: down a binding [...]

The Blaze that Changed Firefighting

Looking back at history, we take a trip to London, November 18, 1987, when a fire broke out in the escalators at King’s Cross station and a total of 30 civilians perished.
“I was based at Stratford fire station in east London. We had just started a 15-hour night shift, when we heard over the radio [...]