COLORADO LODD

COLORADO

• Aaron Shallcross, Denver volunteer, 2/23/1875 (#)
• Alfred Gardiner, Denver volunteer, 3/19/1877 (#)
• Benjamin Barret, Denver volunteer, 3/18/1878 (#)
• James Lloyd Denver FD 9/24/1886
• Robert J. Krague Pueblo FD 7/31/1891
• Horace Knight Denver FD 10/11/1891
• Fred A. Pierrpont Denver FD 3/24/1893
• Frank Mahoney Denver FD 3/24/1893
• Harold William Hartwell Denver FD 3/23/1895
• Fredrick S. Brawley Denver FD 3/23/1895
• Richard Dandridge Denver FD 3/23/1895
• Stephen Martin Denver FD 3/23/1895
• Jerry O'Keefe Lake County FPD 9/20/1896
• Lee E. Bottom Denver FD 10/15/1897
• Harry Robinson Denver FD 7/20/1899
• Charles Dolloff Denver FD 9/21/1904
• John P. McGlade Denver FD 9/22/1904
• Francis P. Lunt Denver FD 10/12/1904
• Charles Eymann Denver FD 10/21/1904
• Roy La Favre, Boulder volunteer, 8/10/1907* 
• Issac O. Wilson, Boulder, 8/10/1907*
• Robert Geddes Denver FD 3/2/1908
• Vinson Davidson Denver FD 9/19/1910
• Harry Cox Denver FD 8/2/1916
• Roy Hood Durango FD 7/19/1918
• Thomas M. Hyder Denver FD 8/23/1928
• William Barber Denver FD 10/12/1928
• Silas Briggs Denver FD 10/12/1928
• Richard Schwairy Denver FD 10/12/1928
• Elmore C. Palmer Denver FD 9/17/1931
• James Moses Denver FD 6/13/1932
• Curtis Dendinger Denver FD 6/21/1934
• Colin Taylor Denver FD 6/28/1934
• Andrew J. Mahon Denver FD 12/1/1934
• William Feely Denver FD 3/20/1936
• John H. Reisbeck Denver FD 3/20/1936
• Edward Carlson Denver FD 9/28/1936
• Roy Nusbaum Greeley FD 11/6/1936
• George W. Brooks Denver FD 7/17/1938
• James E. Simpson Denver FD 7/17/1938
• Ralph Johnson Denver FD 10/15/1938
• Henry Miller Denver FD 11/25/1938
• Elmer Hair Denver FD 12/27/1940
• Stephen Keating Denver FD 9/2/1941
• John H. Kennedy Denver FD 9/21/1943
• James Williams Denver FD 9/21/1943
• Douglas V. Parrish Denver FD 9/21/1943
• William Briggs Denver FD 11/30/1944
• Robert V. Parker Denver FD 3/17/1945
• Joseph F. Robida Pueblo FD 4/9/1945
• W. A. DeLong Pueblo FD 12/25/1949
• Fred Erb Denver FD 3/29/1952
• Leonard Shire Denver FD 3/29/1952
• Clyde F. Summers Rocky Ford FD 7/12/1953
• William M. Lueker Rocky Ford FD 7/12/1953
• Louis G. Hoffman Durango FD 2/19/1954
• Elzie Briggs Durango FD 2/19/1954
• Chester T. Block Denver FD 1/17/1955
• Harold Hubbell S. Adams CO VFD 4/17/1955
• Charles McCadden Denver FD 3/14/1958
• Robert W. Parrahm Denver FD 3/20/1960
• Joseph H. Hotchkiss Denver FD 7/29/1960
• Robert Babcock Golden VFD 2/9/1964
• Sherman C. Reed W. Adams CO FD 2/19/1965
• Clifford R. Carpenter Fort Collins FD 6/29/1965
• Victor H. Sullivan Denver FD 6/28/1967
• John D. Keller Denver FD 1/13/1968
• Clyde H. Bussey Westminster VFD 8/30/1968
• Raymond Dovala Cherryvale FPD 1/8/1969
• John Cernich Littleton FD 4/28/1969
• Wayne D. Manaugh Denver FD 9/17/1971
• Calvin Clark Lakewood FD 2/28/1972
• Wesley I. Pittman DeBeque FD 2/20/1974
• Nick P. Parks Durango FD 8/26/1974
• Wilbur E. Unruh Buckley Ntl. Air Base 12/18/1974
• Jack Lackey Sheridan FD 7/13/1975
• Guyon Zimmerman Federal Heights FD 1/7/1976
• Donald Wescott El Paso CO VFD 5/7/1976
• Anthony A. Czak BLM Hand Crew 7/17/1976
• Stephen H. Furey BLM Hand Crew 7/17/1976
• Scott L. Nelson BLM Hand Crew 7/17/1976
• James M. Wood Parker FPD 2/20/1981
• William J. Duran City of Boulder FD 1/26/1982
• Scott E. Smith City of Boulder FD 1/26/1982
• Richard D. Watts SO Adams CO VFD 4/29/1982
• George R. Burton Parker FPD 4/17/1983
• Colin T. Boast Inter-Canyon FD 10/4/1984
• Richard McConnell Castle Rock FD 2/3/1985
• Phillip Hamilton US Dept of Interior 8/5/1986
• Harald Siewers US Dept of Interior 8/5/1986
• Lee Steingoetter US Dept of Interior 8/5/1986
• Darrel D. Sutton City of Boulder FD 12/27/1986
• August Valentine Spanish Peaks FD 7/31/1987
• James L. Seela Franktown FPD 3/16/1988
• Barry Halvorsen Lakewood FD 4/11/1988
• Scott A. Reynolds Deer Mtn. FPD 10/19/1988
• John P. Hager Castlewood FPD 9/10/1989
• Kirke L. Martin Wellington Lake FPD 6/15/1992
• Richard Wilson Glenwood Spgs. FD 6/29/1992
• Mark Langvardt Denver FD 9/28/1992
• Douglas Konecny Denver FD 1/31/1993
• Martin G. Kautz Brush VFD 8/31/1995
• Richard Kent Tyler BLM Helitac Crew 7/6/1994
• Robert E. Browning BLM Helitac Crew 7/6/1994
• Don Mackey USFS Smokejumper 7/6/1994
• Roger Roth USFS Smokejumper 7/6/1994
• Jim Thrash USFS Smokejumper 7/6/1994
• Jon R. Kelso Prineville Hotshots 7/6/1994
• Tamera Jean Bickett Prineville Hotshots 7/6/1994
• Scott Alan Blecha Prineville Hotshots 7/6/1994
• Levi Brinkley Prineville Hotshots 7/6/1994
• Douglas Michael Dunbar Prineville Hotshots 7/6/1994
• Terri Ann Hagen Prineville Hotshots 7/6/1994
• Bonnie Jean Holtby Prineville Hotshots 7/6/1994
• Rob Johnson Prineville Hotshots 7/6/1994
• Kathi Walsleben Beck Prineville Hotshots 7/6/1994
• Robert W. Crump Denver FD 8/17/2000
• Jay Alan Shaffer Larkspur FPD 3/17/2001
• Lazaro Martinez Fisher's Peak FPD 7/26/2001
• Charles R. Drennan, Jr. Denver FD 9/13/2001
• Ralph Vance Elk Creek FPD 12/14/2001
• Daniel Rama Grayback Forestry 6/21/2002
• Retha Shirley Grayback Forestry 6/21/2002
• Zachary Zigich Grayback Forestry 6/21/2002
• Bartholomew Bailey Grayback Forestry 6/24/2002
• Alan Wayne Wyatt USFS NF 7/2/2002
• Milt Stollak Hawkins & Powers 7/18/2002
• Rich Schwartz Hawkins & Powers 7/18/2002
• Leonard Gordon Knight CSFS Contractor 7/30/2002
• Michael E. Lynch Penrose FD 2/3/2004
• Barrie J. Niebergall Red, White & Blue 3/16/2004
• Richard Patrick Montoya, Denver 5/21/2006
• Shame M. Stewart, Ault-Pierce FD 2008
• Robert Marias, State Forest Service 4/15/2008
• Terry W. DeVore , Olney Springs 4/15/2008
• John W. Schwartz, Jr., Olney Springs 4/15/2008
• Brion Newkirk, Union Colony 2/27/2008
• Brett Stearns, BLM 6/26/2009
• Jeff Davis, Platte Canyon 4/18/2012
• Donald E. Felton, South Park County 10/27/2012
• Richard Lee Marchman, Indian Peaks Fire Department, 7/9/2014
• Willard L. Clapper, Aspen Fire Protection 10/16/14
• Firefighter John Whelan, Denver 6/15/2015
  
  (*) = Incident reported in New York Times 8/11/1907; not listed on state memorial
  (#) = Named in the book "Denver in Flames" by Dick Kreck, pages 262-263; not listed on state memorial  

DENVER LODD

DENVER FIRE DEPARTMENT

• Volunteer Aaaron Shallcross collapsed and died after fire at Planters Hotel. Feb. 23, 1875. First Denver firefighter to die in the line of duty. [Name not listed on state firefighters' memorial - Editor]
• Alfred Gardiner killed by falling wall. March 19,1877. [Name not listed on state firefighters' memorial - Editor]
• Benjamin Barret killed at fire at Eastbrook Stables. March 18, 1878. [Name not listed on state firefighters' memorial - Editor]
• James Lloyd crushed by fire horse at Hose Company 4. Sept. 24, 1886.
• Horrace Knight, driver of Steamer 5, killed at railroad crossing. Oct. 11, 1891.
• Frederick Pierrepont, of Hook & Ladder 1, and Frank Mahoney, of Hose 4, killed by falling wall at Summit Fuel and Feed Co. March 24, 1893.
• Harold Hartwell, Frederick Brawley, Richard Dandridge and Stephen Martin, all of Hose 3, killed in floor collapse at St. James Hotel. March 23, 1895.
• Lee Bottom, driver, thrown from horse-drawn Steamer 7. Oct. 14, 1897. 
• Harry Robinson, driver for assistant fire chief, sickened by fumes at Western Chemical Co. June 18, 1899.
• Charles Dolloff, John McGlade, Frank Lunt and Charles Eymann felled by nitric acid fumes at fire at Denver Post engraving department. Sept. 20, 1904
• Robert Geddes, lieutenant, fatally injured when street car struck Hook & Ladder 1 at 15th and Market streets. Capt. A.S. Greiber, six others injured. "The fire to which the men were making the run proved trivial," newspaper said. March 1, 1908.
• Vincent Davidson, captain, fatally injured when Hose 13 skidded on wet pavement at 15th and Market streets. Sept. 18, 1910.
• Harry Cox killed when Hose 4 struck by bus on Broadway at 16th St. Aug. 2, 1916.
• Thomas M. Hyder killed when Pumper 21 collided with coal truck at East Virginia Avenue and South Clarkson Street. Aug. 23, 1928.
• William Barber, Richard Schwairy and Silas Briggs killed when Pumper 7 and Truck 12 collided at 42nd Avenue and Federal Boulevard. Oct. 12, 1928.
• James Moses, deputy chief, died of heart attack after returning from fire call. June 14, 1932.
• Colin Taylor, of Engine 16, overcome by smoke at fire at 421 Williams St. June 20, 1934.
• Andrew Mahon, assistant chief, fatally injured in wall collapse at Midwest Trunk & Bag Manufacturing Co., 1524 15th St. Nov. 30, 1934.
• John Reisbeck killed when Engine 10 collided with meat truck enroute to a false alarm. March 20, 1936.
• William Feely took ill while on duty at Station 12 and died in hospital. March 21, 1936.
• Edward Carlson struck by car while shoveling snow at Station 9. Sept. 28, 1936.
• George Brooks and James Simpson, both of Pumper 3, killed when their engine collided with Hook & Ladder 4 at 20th and Larimer streets. Brooks was a captain. July 17, 1938.
• Ralph Johnston, captain of Truck 8, suffered heart attack while on duty. Oct. 9, 1938.
• Elmer Hair suffered heart attack while on duty at Station 19. Dec. 28, 1940.
• Stephen Keating, assistant chief, took ill while on duty. Sept. 3, 1941. 
• Douglas Parrish, James Williams and John Kennedy killed on mutual aid assignment for a fire in a railroad tunnel west of Denver. Sept. 30, 1943.
• William Briggs, captain of Hook & Ladder 6, killed in collision at 12th and Larimer streets. Nov. 30, 1944. (Briggs father, also a Denver firefighter, died in collision between Pumper 7 and Truck 21 in 1928).  
• Lenard Shire and Fred Erb killed in floor collapse at Miller Furniture Co. fire, 1640 Larimer St. March 29, 1952. 
• Chester Block, captain of the rescue squad, suffered heart attack at quarters of Engine 2. Jan. 17, 1955. 
• Robert Parrahm, captain of Engine 5, killed in collision with automobile enroute to false alarm. March 20, 1960. 
• Joseph Hotchkiss, captain of Engine 2, suffered heart attack at fire at Alton Wright Welding Co., 2077 South Cherokee St. July 29, 1960.
• Victor Sullivan killed when Pumper 6 collided with automobile enroute to false alarm. June 28, 1967.
• John Keller, of Station 15, died at home after being exposed to cyanide while on duty several days earlier. Jan. 13, 1968.
• Wayne Manaugh suffered heart attack at Station 21. Sept. 17, 1971.
• Mark Langvardt, of Station 16, suffered smoke inhalation at three-alarm fire on South Broadway. Sept. 28, 1992.
• Douglas Konecny, of Station 10, shot by gunman while assisting police at standoff on Humboldt Street. Jan. 31, 1993.
• Robert Wayne Crump, of Squirt 10, died in flash flood. Aug 17, 2000.
• Assistant Chief Charles Rawls Drennan died in shooting. Sept. 13, 2001.
• Lt. Richard Patrick Montoya, of Engine 9, died of injuries sustained in house fire. May 21, 2006. (Injured May 14, 2006)
• Firefighter John Whelan, of Station 8, died of injuries sustained at a dumpster fire. June 15, 2015. (Injured June 28, 2015)

1980s & 1990s

Masonic Lodge No. 5,  Welton Street, Denver - 1983
Photo: Lodge No. 5 website


• On June 29, 1981, fire destroyed the Stevens Hotel in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Five people were injured. [UPI dispatch in Pittsburgh Press] Rick Farwell, spokesman for the Cheyenne Fire Department, described the old hotel as "a total loss."
• On Jan. 26, 1982, Boulder firefighters William J. Duran and Scott L. Smith died in a training fire in a building near 15th Street and Hawthorn Avenue. Three other firefighters were injured.
• On Nov. 23, 1983, a five-alarm fire burned for nine hours at the University Hills Shopping Center in Denver. [Associated Press] The flames spread through suspended ceilings and reached more than a dozen stores, many stocked for the holiday shopping season. Other business sustained smoke damage. Two of the 150 firefighters at the scene sustained injuries. Denver Fire Chief Myrle Wise called the blaze "one of the worst" in his 40-year career. Water from fire engines and aerial ladders turned to ice in near-zero temperatures. Thirty-five of the city's 41 piece of fire apparatus attended the fire. [AP story in Palm Beach Post]
• On March 4, 1983, fire gutted the Masonic Temple in downtown Denver. Flames shot 75 feet into the air. Several firefighters suffered burns. The temple - known as "The Old Lady on Welton Street" - was built in 1889.
• On Aug. 1, 1984, a commercial truck carrying six Navy torpedoes overturned at the junction of I-70 and I-25 in Denver, a busy intersection nicknamed "The "Mouse Trap." The Denver Fire Department turned to an Army ordnance team to secure the 19-foot-long torpedoes packed in shipping crates. [Associated Press story in Spokesman-Review of Spokane, Aug. 2, 1984]
• On Dec. 16, 1985, a dozen people died in a propane explosion at Rocky Mountain Natural Gas in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. [Glenwood Springs Post]
• On Nov. 15, 1987, Continental Airlines Flight 1713 crashed as it departed Denver's Stapleton International Airport in a snowstorm, killing 28 people and injuring 54 others. Firefighters worked for hours to free survivors from the wreckage of the DC-9 jetliner. "They were digging them out row by row," said Joe Cipri, a Denver firefighter. [Associated Press] "Some were screaming, but most people were real calm -- just waiting their turns to get out." One victim yelled "Get me out of here" but was dead by the time firefighters reached him, Cipri said. Rory Moore, another firefighter, said it was "a horrible feeling -- a helpless feeling" trying to rescue so many people. Investigators later said icing interfered with the aircraft's controls. [Associated Press story in Anchorage Daily News]
• In 1988, fires swept 1 million acres of Yellowstone National Park.
• On Easter Sunday 1988 (April 3, 1988), fire swept a row of businesses at Fourth and Lincoln streets in Loveland, Colorado. Firefighters from Loveland, Fort Collins, Berthoud and the Big Thompson Canyon Fire Department worked for three hours to bring the fire under control. They were equipped with four pumpers, two aerial ladders and two squads. The first crews to arrive at the fire reported heavy smoke from the roof. The business row was constructed in the 1890s. Arson was the probable cause of the fire. Lincoln Street was closed for several days after the blaze. [Loveland Fire Rescue Authority archives]
• On April 21, 1988, Steven Huitt, an Airman assigned to the F.E. Warren Air Force Base Fire Department in Cheyenne, Wyoming, died in a joint firefighter training exercise with city firefighters at the military facility.
• On Jan.31, 1989, Alan Lee Mickelson, 36, a member of the Gillette, Wyoming, Fire Department, fell to his death after a roof collapsed at a church fire. Unknown to the firefighters, the fire had been burning for seven hours in a concealed space between the ceiling and roof. Mickelson, a volunteer for ten years, was among the first firefighters in Campbell County, Wyoming, to achieve Firefighter III certification. [Fire Dept. website] 
• On Nov. 25-26, 1990, Denver firefighters battled flames at a United Airlines jet fuel depot near Stapleton International Airport for 53 hours. Dark clouds from the blaze drifted over the city and health officials warned people with respiratory problems to remain indoors. [New York Times] About a quarter of the 13 million gallons of jet fuel at the depot went up in flames that reached as high as 500 feet. "It was a monster," Denver Fire Department spokesman Mike McNeill said. Temperatures reached 3500F. The fire was finally "snuffed out" when Continental Airlines, which owned tanks near the United tanks, hired the private oil well firefighting company Boots & Coots of Texas. [Associated Press story printed in Alleghany Times] Denver Fire Chief Richard Gonzales said: "The reality is this kind of thing doesn't happen very often and there are very few people who do it on a regular basis." Boots & Coots president Dwight Wiliams likened his specialty to "riding bad horses."
• On Nov. 25-26, 1990, Denver firefighters battled flames at a United Airlines jet fuel depot near Stapleton International Airport for 53 hours. Dark clouds from the blaze drifted over the city and health officials warned people with respiratory problems to remain indoors. [New York Times] About a quarter of the 13 million gallons of jet fuel at the depot went up in flames that reached as high as 500 feet. "It was a monster," Denver Fire Department spokesman Mike McNeill said. Temperatures reached 3500F. The fire was finally "snuffed out" when Continental Airlines, which owned tanks near the United tanks, hired the private oil well firefighting company Boots & Coots of Texas. [Associated Press story printed in Alleghany Times] Denver Fire Chief Richard Gonzales said: "The reality is this kind of thing doesn't happen very often and there are very few people who do it on a regular basis." Boots & Coots president Dwight Wiliams likened his specialty to "riding bad horses.
• On March 4, 1991, fire swept a retirement home in Colorado Springs and killed nine residents. "Neighbors and employees pushed most of the residents to safety in wheelchairs." [Associated Press story in St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
• On July 6, 1994, Colorado's South Canyon Fire - at Storm King Mountain, near Glenwood Springs - killed 14 forest service firefighters. Lightning touched off the blaze two days earlier. Shifting winds fanned flames that trapped the firefighters.
• On Jan. 27, 1997, an arson fire killed five people at the La Hacienda, a residential motel in the Denver suburb of Thornton, which is covered by the North Metro Rescue Fire Authority. Two firefighters fell through the roof of the motel, and one of them suffered a leg injury. [Associated Press story in Daily Courier of Yavapai County, Arizona] 
• On July 12, 1998, an arson fire damaged a decommissioned B-52 bomber at an aviation museum on the site of the former Lowry Air Force Base, Denver. [Rocky Mountain News]

1970-1979

Fire at F.J. LeGrue & Co., Denver - 1978

• On Feb. 5, 1970, explosives destroyed or damaged 42 school buses in a Denver parking lot as the city moved to racially integrate its public schools. Acting Fire Chief Dan Cronin said the explosives were placed under the fuels tanks. Workers were able to move some of the buses during the fire. [United Press International story in Pittsburgh Press]
• On Jan.17, 1971, five children - aged 3 months to 9 years - died in a house fire in Denver. They were trapped in an upstairs bedroom of a 2 1/2-story clap-board dwelling. Their father, Merle Adams, escaped. The children were identified as Timmy, 9, Michael, 8, Steve, 6, Chris, 2, and Debbie, 3 months. [Combined UPI, AP wire dispatch in Deseret News of Salt Lake City.] Neighbor Max Tafoya said Mr. Adams father ran into his house: "He was crying 'My children! My children!' and I ran out and the whole house looked like it was on fire. I could hear the children screaming upstairs and ran to get onto the back porch but the heat and flames were so bad I couldn't get in." Denver firefighters found the children huddled on two of three beds in the room, apparently dead of smoke inhalation.
• 1972: Fire at Lowe Opera House in Julesburg, Colorado; constructed 1917. [operaoldcolo.info]
• On Feb. 21, 1972, Aurora firefighters rescued James Harr, 18, and Rick Putnam, 17, from an underground air vent at an abandoned Titan I missile silo on the Lowry Air Force bombing range. Harr sustained "internal injuries when the pressurized steel door to the air vent, five feet in diameter, closed on him as he crawled through it." [United Press International story in News-Sentinel of Lodi, California] Putnam was unhurt. Other boys drove to a farmhouse for help.
• On Feb. 28, 1972, Lakewood firefighter Calvin Clark was electrocuted on a public service call. Clark was attempting to rescue a cat from a utility pole, [West Metro Fire Rescue Facebook]
• On March 26, 1972, a fire in a brick home near Aurora, Colorado, killed five family members: Wilber Routon, 40, his wife Janet, 36, stepson Ronald McReyhew, 18, and daughters, Susan 10, and Joyce, 6. [United Press International report printed in Williamson Daily News of West Virginia]
• On Sept. 26, 1973, an explosion trapped workers atop a grain elevator in Loveland, Colorado. Authorities summoned a helicopter to help rescue workers from the roof of the Big Thompson Mill and Elevator. The explosion destroyed a section of the "Big T" structure from levels three to seven. The section measured 25-feet in width. The Loveland Fire Department received mutual aid from the fire departments in Berthound and Fort Collins. [Loveland Fire Rescue Authority archives]
• On April 10, 1974, fire killed three people at the three-story Lewiston Hotel, a lodging for transients in downtown Denver. [Associated Press] About a dozen other were injured, suffering burns and smoke inhalation. Denver firefighters used ladders to rescue residents, said Jack Lynch, division fire chief. Two people jumped. The hotel's fire doors were "blocked open." [AP story in Evening Independent of St. Petersburg, Florida]
• On April 10, 1974, a fire that started in a feed mill destroyed 2 1/2 blocks of Grand Junction, south of the main business district. Grand Junction Fire Chief R.T. Mantlo said the fire was apparently caused by an electrical short because a witness reported "considerable arcing" in a transformer station at the back of the mill. [United Press International story in Bangor Daily News of Maine] The wind whipped up the flames and two firemen suffered minor injuries.
• On Aug. 24, 1974, Durango, Colorado, firefighter Nick Parks III and police Corporal Gale Emerson died when wall collapsed at a raging fire on Main Avenue, according to the Associated Press and Durango Herald. "The whole thing came down without warning," said an official quoted by the AP. Six buildings were destroyed; a seventh was damaged.
• On Dec. 18, 1974, Wilbur Unruh, a firefighter at Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora, Colorado, was among five people who died in the explosion of a jet fuel storage tank that was being cleaned, according to a history of the military facility. The explosion caused a 50-foot crater.   
• On Aug. 7, 1975, Continental Airlines Flight 426 crashed on takeoff at Denver's Stapleton International Airport. There were no fatalities among the 134 people aboard although several suffered serious injuries. The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that windshear was the probable cause of the crash. The Boeing 727 reached about 150-200 feet when it started sinking. The pilot failed to regain control. The jetliner struck the right shoulder of Runway 35L, slid for 2,000 feet and came to rest at an airport road. Airport firefighters flooded the engines with foam.
• On Oct. 2, 1975, fire broke out at Protex Industrial Supply in Denver. [DFD]
• On Christmas Eve 1975, the City of Denver demoted 60 fire captains to lieutenant to stay within a $17 million budget. Mike Vitry, a demoted fire officer, ridiculed Mayor Bill McNichols. "I hope Ebenezer McNichols has just as nice and happy a Christmas as I'm having now," Vitry said [Associated Press].
• In May 1976, fire struck the Yorkshire Apartments in El Paso County, Colorado. (The Donald Wescott Fire Protection District is named in honor of the firefighter who died in the line of duty at the Yorkshire Apartments. Other firefighters were injured in the fire caused by gasoline stored in open containers. A family of three also died.)
• On July 21, 1976, a training accident claimed the life of Kenneth D. Double, a firefighter at Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming.
• On July 31, 1976, the Big Thompson Flood struck near Loveland, Colorado.
• On Nov. 16, 1976, a Texas International DC-9 stalled after takeoff at Stapleton and crashed. The 81 passengers and 5 crewmembers suffered a total of 14 injured; no fatalities.
• On Sept, 18, 1978, fire gutted F.J. LeGrue & Co., a floral business, on South Broadway, Denver. [DFD]
• On May 21, 1979, the body of an unidentified male ("John Doe") was found at the scene of arson fire at 128 28th St., Denver. The victim's identity remains unknown after three decades. The incident is on the Denver Police Department "cold case" list.
• On Dec. 23, 1979, a sniper's bullet grazed John Dishong, an Aurora firefighter driving a fire truck. A metal ashtray in his jacket deflected the bullet. [Associated Press story in Spokane Daily Chronicle]

1960-1969

Crash at Stapleton Airport - 1961

• On Aug. 8, 1960, fire destroyed the derelict Canyon Hotel at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. The 19th century hotel closed in 1959 and was undergoing demolition.
• On March 24, 1961, a three-alarm fire destroyed a four-story building on Arapahoe Street in Denver, and first aid crews administered oxygen to 40 firefighters and police officers suffering smoke inhalation. [United Press International dispatch in Spokane Daily Chronicle] Denver Fire Chief Allie Feldman, concerned about the stability of the building, ordered firefighters out after the flames were contained.
• On July 11, 1961, United Airlines Flight 859 crashed and exploded in flames at Denver's Stapleton Field, killing 17 people. Airport firefighters were praised for their valiant efforts, but the City of Denver was later criticized for being inadequately prepared for emergencies involving large jetliners, such as ill-fated, the four-engine DC-8. An FAA inspector had warned that the airport's fire equipment was too old for the jet age. Firehouse staffing was also considered inadequate. Flight 859 "ground looped after the crash, swerved off the runway and smashed into a truck." [Associated Press]. The truck driver, Henry Blom, was killed. Denver Fire Chief Allie Feldman said the other fatalities were trapped in the burning aircraft. Ten minutes before the crash, pilot John Grosso reported a hydraulics system problem. An airport worker said he heard "a big bang" and saw "this thing had slewed right around on the runway and burst into flame." Dr. Earl Guyer, a clinical psychologist at the Veterans Hospital at Fort Lyons, was at the airport to meet his wife and three small daughters. They were among the dead. [AP story in Daily Tribune of Greeley, Colorado]
• On Dec. 16, 1961, fire at a nursing home in Sheridan, Wyoming, killed three patients - Minnie Craig, 76; Anna Cossitt, 75 and Elmer Wiggins, 75. Nine others were carried to safety on the backs of firefighters and police officers. The two-story nursing home was of frame construction. [Associated Press story in Lewiston Morning Tribune of Idaho]
• On Sept. 2, 1962, fire raged out of control for more than four hours at the historic Albany Hotel in Denver. [Associated Press] The fire killed Stella Bruce, 35, a waitress, and injured about 50 others. A number of firefighters were treated for smoke inhalation. Guests used fire escapes to exit the 7-story building. The Albany Hotel had 300 guest rooms. ADT Box 157 was received at fire alarm headquarters at about 2:20 p.m. local time. [AP story in Ellensburg Daily Record, Denver Firefighters Museum]
• Dec. 13, 1962: "We did our job and got the hell out of there." That's how John DeJong, assistant Denver Fire chief, described the rescue of Linda Jane Hinchman, a student at Colorado Womens College. Hinchman, 17, of Glenwood, Indiana, wedged her toe in a faucet while bathing. Firemen sawed off the faucet and freed her toe with petroleum jelly. The freshman was "well-bundled" by classmates by the time firemen arrived. She kept the bathtub faucet as a souvenir.[United Press International dispatch in the Dec. 14, 1962 News-Press of St. Joseph, MO]
• On Feb. 16, 1963, Denver firefighters administered oxygen to 38 members of the Bennett High School pep club after they were sickened by carbon monoxide fumes from a loose tail pipe on a school bus returning from a basketball game in Central City. [Associated Press] "Some of the girls were verging on unconsciousness" [AP] Bus driver Flloyd Hamilton stopped the bus when some of the 55 passengers complained of feeling ill. Bob Kempter, a cab driver, saw the students "kneeling and reeling and called the Denver Fire Department." [AP]
• On May 16, 1964, members of the Pueblo Rural Fire Department responded to a house fire and found the remains of five children aged from 3 years to 9 years. Their parents were at a party when the fire broke out. The fire department attributed the blaze to an overheated wood stove. [United Press International dispatch in Spokane Daily Chronicle 5/16/64]
• On Jan. 5, 1965, a two-alarm fire struck the J.A. Sharoff Co., at 1644 Market St., Denver, and forced the evacuation of a neighboring hotel. The fire was held to the Sharoff building. [Big Hammer newsletter] 
• On Jan. 6, 1965, Protex Industries, 1331 West Evans Ave., Denver, was the site of a two-alarm fire. Electrical equipment shorted out as oil was pumped into the building. [Big Hammer newsletter]
• On Feb. 20, 1965, a suspicious fire caused extensive damage to St. John's Church in Denver. [Big Hammer newsletter] 
• On June 10, 1965, Denver Fire Chief Cassio Frazini was swept from a rescue boat during a flash flood in the city. Frazini survived by clinging to a tree. [Associated Press story in Owosso Argus Press of Michigan] 
• On June 29, 1965, Clifford Carpenter, Fort Collins fire chief, was killed by falling bricks and mortar at a book store fire. Carpenter was directing hose lines at College and Oak streets when an exterior wall gave way. [Fort Collins History Conection] Newspapers published photographs of the chief, in his white helmet, in the seconds leading to his death. Carpenter was 49.
• On Feb. 8, 1969, the Denver Fire Department contended with three simultaneous three-alarm fires at Carney Lumber Co., Empire Roofing Co., and the Miller Hotel. [Denver Firefighters Museum]
• Starting in the late 1960s and continuing into the early 1970s, an arson ring caused millions of dollars in damage to construction projects in the Denver area.

1950-1959

Central Block, Pueblo - 1953
Photo: Pueblo Fire Museum

• On Jan. 17, 1950, a wildfire flashed across Camp Carson near Colorado Springs, claiming the lives of eight soldiers and a teenage volunteer fighting the blaze. Winds of 60 mph fueled flames that started near the Broadmoor Hotel.
• On June 20, 1950, Denver firefighters rescued James Sisler, 14, who slipped off a small bridge into "heavy black muck." [Associated Press story in Spokane Daily Chronicle of Washington] "When he tried to climb out, he slipped in further. The more he struggled, the more desperate his plight." Denver police attempted to rescue him with a rope fastened under his armpits. When that didn't work, firemen crawled out on a ladder and freed him.
• On Aug. 26, 1950, fire swept through a Denver hotel at 17th and Market streets, killing three people and injured nine others. Military police officers on patrol sounded the alarm. A cigarette apparently caused the blaze, said Denver Fire Chief Allie Feldman. [Associated Press] The Denver Police Department directed all available ambulances to the scene of the fire. [AP story printed in the Daily Inter Lake of Kalispell, Montana] A separate report [United Press in Daily Star of Windsor, Ontario] said some of the hotel residents jumped from windows.
• On Feb. 17, 1951, a fire and explosion at the downtown Denver Athletic Club claimed the lives of three residents and a maid. Newspapers across the country published a wire photo of firemen raising a ladder to a man hanging from a window in an icy alley at the club. Another man, seen in the photo waving his hat from a nearby window, wasn't as lucky. He succumbed before the firemen could reach him. The Denver Athletic Club blaze "roared out of control before we got there," Denver Assistant Fire Chief James Kain said. The flames started in the gymnasium during preparations for a Valentine's party. Investigators blamed the fire on an electrical short. Scores of people were trapped on the upper floors of the building. Pumper 1, Truck 1, Truck 6, Wagon 2, Pumper 4 and Squad 2 responded to the initial alarm. The second alarm was transmitted four minutes later. Firefighter Karl Loose suffered a heart attack at the fire. [United Press, Associated Press, Denver Firefighters Museum] 
• The next day, Feb. 18, 1951, a furnace room fire destroyed the Wolfhurst Saddle Club near Denver and killed dishwasher Tami Kaku, who was trapped inside the club, and cook Robert Snell, who escaped but went back into the burning building. The fashionable saddle club was once home of mining magnate Tom Walsh. [United Press in Daily Star of Windsor, Ontario]
• On Dec. 3, 1951 a disabled B-29 bomber trying to reach Lowry Air Force Base crashed into a row of "swank residential homes" in Denver killing eight airmen. [Associated Press] Six airmen survived, including the pilot. Five houses were damaged; four of them demolished. The bomber "seemed to hit the treetops and just exploded," said Mrs. S.G. Brooks, who witnessed the accident from a knoll several miles away. [AP story in Post Reporter, Idaho Falls] 
• On Oct. 19, 1952, an explosion destroyed a Denver and Rio Grand steam locomotive seven miles south of Littleton, Colorado, killing three railroad men and a railroad buff. It took rescuers four hours to extricate their bodies. [United Press]
• On Oct. 26, 1952, fire broke out at the Hungarian Flour Mills in Denver and burned for days. All off-duty Denver firefighters were recalled. Seventy firefighters sought treatment at Denver General Hospital while the flames burned. [Denver Firefighters Museum]
• On Aug. 29, 1953, a fire and collapse destroyed the Central Block in downtown Pueblo. The flames killed O.G. Pope , a retired lawyer who maintained an office and apartment in the 5-story office building. Firefighters heard him scream but were unable to reach him. [Associated Press story in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, a Canadian newspaper] The fire started in a second-story hotel, ignited a paint store below and then spread to office building, which then collapsed. Across from the original blaze, heat, smoke and water damaged a furniture store and the headquarters of the Southern Colorado Power Co. [Pueblo Fire Museum] 
• On Dec. 25, 1954, an explosion in a feed store rocked the calm of Christmas morning in the southwest section of Denver. [Associated Press story in Daily Times of Florence, Alabama] Franklin Soper, assistant Denver fire chief, attributed the explosion to a natural gas leak. The blast hurled concrete 200 yards into the South Platte River, damaged three other buildings and shattered windows.
• On March 15, 1955, fire roared through the historic Johnson Hotel in Laramie, Wyoming, and claimed six lives. [United Press story in News-Press of St. Joseph, Missouri] Other guests were injured jumping from the windows of the second-floor residential hotel, which was built in 1900. Among the dead was retired rodeo rider Ed "Boots" Smith, who toured Europe in the early 1900s as a member of the Buffalo Bill Cody and Gandy Brothers Wild West shows. [Associated Press story in the News and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina] The building was of frame construction with brick veneer. Laramie Fire Chief Blake Fanning said there were about 25-30 people in the hotel. [AP story in Modesto Bee] The fire apparently started in the lobby. When fire crews arrived, men were dangling from the hotel. Survivor Alfred Warner said: "The stairs were a sheet of flame. I climbed out the window and hung onto the hotel sign."
• On April 5, 1955, a fire at the Oriental Refinery in Commerce City, Colorado, caused fatal injuries to Harold Hubbard, a volunteer firefighter with the South Adams County Fire Department. Five other firefighters sustained lesser injuries in the refinery fire.
• On April 16, 1955, Aurora firefighters rescued David Mark Counterman, 2, who fell to the bottom of an 18-foot well shaft that measured just 18 inches in diameter. Workers with heavy equipment bored a parallel shaft to reach the boy. Firefighters lowered into the rescue shaft cut through dirt and rock to pull the boy to safety. Oxygen pumped into the well sustained little David during the four-hour drama. "He screamed all the time he was in the hole," said George Moorehead, fire chief of Aurora. "But the minute we laid hands on him, he gave us a feeble smile and stopped. He knew he was OK," Moorehead said. [Associated Press story in Sunday News-Press of St. Joseph, Missouri]
• On June 1, 1956, a B25 bomber departing Lowry Air Force Base "cartwheeled between homes " in southeast Denver, killing four of the eight people aboard the aircraft. [Associated Press] The bomber stopped at Lowry to refuel. [AP story in Daily Times-News of Burlington, North Carolina]
• On June 23, 1957, fire destroyed the Holy Comforter Chapel at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Denver. [Associated Press story in the Sarasota Journal of Florida] 
• On Sept. 3, 1959, a leaking natural gas main caused an explosion at a liquor store in downtown Denver. Carl Reily, 61, a clerk, was killed; 14 others were injured. [Associated Press story in Youngstown Vindicator of Ohio] The explosion also damaged a bar and a hotel.