That Was Then
These are articles highlighting events from the past.
20 years ago: Windsor Castle Fire
Photo by Thierry Saliou, AFP/Getty Images
20 years ago today, at 11:33am on November 20, 1992, a massive fire swept through Queen Elizabeth’s weekend home, Windsor Castle. The cause was determined to be a spotlight burning through a curtain on the first floor chapel of the northeast wing. After the alarm was called, castle workers formed [...]
30 Years Ago Today: MGM Grand Hotel Fire, November 21, 1980
Don Polke / Las Vegas Sun / Sun File Photo
Precisely 30 years ago today, at 7 in the morning of November 21, 1980, a fire at the luxury hotel and casino MGM Grand hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, killed 84 people. The majority of the fatalities were due to smoke inhalation, caused in part by [...]
May 11, 1985: Bradford Football Disaster
With the World Cup now over and Spain the winner, we thought it may be interesting to highlight a soccer-related fire incident that occurred nearly 25 years ago.
The Bradford City Fire Disaster occurred on Saturday, May 11, 1985 when a flash fire consumed one side of the Valley Parade football stadium in Bradford, England.
The fire [...]
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 [...]
Polls
Loading ...
Recent Comments