PULMOTOR

The Pulmotor was an early 20th Century pressure-driven device for reviving people overcome by smoke, fumes or in respiratory distress. This is a photo of a victim of a waterworks tunnel accident in Cleveland, Ohio.

MISSOULA ROXY - 1994

Photo: City of Missoula

On Feb. 19, 1994, fire struck the Roxy Theater in Missoula, Montana, following the matinee. 

"Ruled as arson and unsolved to this day, rumors persisted, describing a sleazy underworld of nefarious characters and jealous lovers who had both been promised the theater" upon the owner's death, according to the Roxy's website.

Today, it is a community non-profit theater.

The Roxy was was built in 1937.

UNION PACIFIC MILL - 1910

Before the fire

In 1910, flames devoured the Union Pacific Rolling Mill in Laramie, Wyoming, which produced steel rails.

The roof collapsed shortly after the arrival of firefighters.

The Boomerang newspaper reported a locomotive spark ignited the fire. The Republican newspaper said the blaze started in one of the stacks.

CRUSADE FOR JUSTICE - 1973

Photo: Protest Denver
On March 17, 1973, an explosion rocked the Crusade for Justice building at 1547 Downing Street in Denver during a police raid and gun battle. The Crusade for Justice was an activist organization affiliated with the Chicano movement.

RUNS & WORKERS

On Aug. 29, 1951, the community of Lindon, in Washington County, Colorado, about 80 miles east of Denver, was the site of a major blaze. Five gasoline storage tanks exploded, Brush (Colorado) News-Tribune reported.

Photo: Washington Park Profile
Denver's Engine 3 laying out at rowhouse fire in 1970s or 1980s.

Photo: Colorado Springs Fire Department
House fire in Colorado Springs in March 2015 with Engine 1 and Truck 8 on scene.

Photo: Rock Springs Historical Museum
Flames engulf Point of Rocks filling station in Rock Springs, Wyoming, on Feb. 6, 1970. 

Fire report in Alamosa (Colorado) Journal on Dec. 15, 1905. 

On Jan. 4, 1897, fire destroyed the Wyoming State Hospital in Rock Spring, Wyoming. All patients were safely evacuated. The institution was rebuilt and renamed the Wyoming General Hospital.

Photo: Poudre Fire Authority
On the job in Fort Collins, Colorado, in late 1920s or 1930s.  The pump is churning and the hose lines are charged.

Photo: Lake County Geneaology 

Fire roars at Lake County Courthouse in Leadville, Colorado. Date pf photo unknown.

Fire destroyed the Union Pacific Railroad depot in Laramie, Wyoming, on Oct. 17, 1917 .

Greeley's telephone operator traced a false fire alarm call at the request of the city's fire chief, as reported in the Dec. 11, 1922 edition of the Greeley (Colorado) Tribune.

BROOMFIELD - 2018

Photo: North Metro Fire Rescue
On June 27, 2018, North Metro Fire Rescue crews battle a fierce house fire in the 7000-block of West 119th Place in Broomfield, Colorado. "All residents were able to evacuate safely in time, but the house was destroyed by the heavy flames and smoke, and the family lost some of their pets in the home," North Metro said.

BAKER RESERVOIR - 2023

Photo: Adams County Fire Rescue
On Feb. 12, 2023, firefighters rescued a 155-pound St. Bernard that fell through the ice on Baker Reservoir in Adams County, Colorado. The dog's owner "did the exact right thing by calling 911, not going out to the ice, and giving dispatchers the information as to exactly where they were located," Adams County Fire Rescue said.

COLE CREEK - 1923

Photo: Casper College

A remote railroad bridge collapsed east of Casper, Wyoming, after days of rain and a passenger train went off the tracks at the washout into Cole Creek, killing an estimated 30 people on Sept. 27, 1923.

"Being on a curve, the bridge was not visible to the headlights of the train until it was too late," Wikipedia said. "The only surviving member of the train or engine crew stated that the emergency brakes were only applied just before the train plunged off the rails."

Roundhouse, track and bridge gangs responded on rescue trains from Casper and came upon travelers trapped atop a sleeping car, according to Wikipedia.

"A cable rope obtained from the Big Muddy oil field was thrown over to the marooned sleepers" and "men, women and children went hand-over-hand from the sleeper to the east bank, a distance of more than 150 feet," the Dallas Morning News said.

Denver's Rocky Mountain News reported a man crossed the cable with a baby in his arms "tied in an old gunny sack."  

Wikipedia said the train consisted of seven cars, and was operated jointly by the Burlington and the Colorado and Southern. The Associated Press said Train No. 30 was bound for Denver from Casper. The locomotive and smoking car were completely submerged, AP said.

This is an excerpt of a dispatch on the front page of the Sept. 30, 1927, edition of the Rocky Mountain News by Deane H. Dickason:

CASTLEWOOD DAM - 1933

At 11th Street in Denver

On Aug. 3, 1933, the Castlewood Dam crumbled, sending a deluge roaring for many miles.

Up to nine inches of rain caused the dam to fail and seven people died in Denver, according to the National Weather Service.

"Pounding down on Franktown, tiny village on a hillside four miles below the dam, the surging tide swept on six miles to Parker, at times on a mile-wide front, and picked up tons of debris as it swirled into suburban Denver and sent Cherry Creek on a rampage through the heart of the city," the Associated Press reported.

"Denver police and firemen with sirens going full blast sped through the Country club residential district warning everyone to flee from their homes in the lowland area. Emergency ambulance corps took invalids from many homes," AP said.

SANBORN MAPS

 

Sanborn Maps are detailed diagrams of U.S. cities and towns published in the 19th and 20th centuries by The Sanborn Map Company for the insurance industry to assess risks. Sanborn produced maps detailing 12,000 America communities.

FROM THE EDITOR

 Your editor had some bad breaks medically in 2023 and is now back in the fold.  

AERIAL ATTACK - 2023

Photos: Denver Fire Department
Street scene of commercial building fire at Santa Fe Drive and West 13th Avenue in Denver on Feb. 6, 2023.  

FORNEY MUSEUM - 2023

Photos: Vinny Del Giudice
In 2023, Denver's Forney Museum of Transportation hosted the "Fire Trucks to the Rescue!" exhibit. Two of the rigs displayed - old Engine 6 of the Denver Fire Department and old City Engine 4 of the Fort Morgan Fire Department - are owned by Kevin Sweeney, retired chief of operations at North Metro Fire Rescue.

DIESEL DALMATIAN

Photo: Adams County Fire Rescue
Dalmatians, it is said, have natural affinity to horses. In days of old, the breed would help protect fire horses. This contemporary pooch, it seems, has an affinity for diesels.

HOOF VS HEAD - 1904

Image: Pueblo Fire Museum
Firehouse death of Pueblo firefighter Andrew Baker, 42, of No. 1 steamer, as reported by the Pueblo Chieftain newspaper on June 16, 1904. Baker was cleaning a horse stall when an equine named Jim, who had a habit of biting, kicked him. Moments earlier, when Baker entered the stall, Jim snapped at him - and Baker tapped Jim with a broom.

DOG'S BEST FRIEND

Photo: West Metro Fire
West Metro firefighter clutching canine evacuee on the fireground. West Metro serves the Denver suburbs of Lakewood and Wheat Ridge and the old Barcroft fire district.

RUNS & WORKERS

The fire department in Pueblo, Colorado, acquired an auto with money "saved in the purchase of horse feed," according to The Pueblo Sun of Nov. 23, 1909.

 

On Feb. 6, 2022, firefighters rescued a person from a house fire in the 3500-block of 35th Avenue in Greeley, Colorado. "Ladder 5 crew arrived on scene to find a working fire and immediately initiated an interior search of the structure," the fire department said on Facebook. B-Shift was on duty that evening.

Blaze at Greeley's old Tolman store at 8th Avenue and 7th Street in October 1956.

On Dec. 26, 1968, fire struck the old Sterling Theater at 926 9th Ave. in Greeley. The theater was undergoing demolition and much of the floor had been removed.

Item appearing in Feb. 7, 1903, edition of Colorado Daily Chieftain of Pueblo.

Greeley firefighters rescued two people from a fire in a two-story house in the 800-block of 4th Street on Aug. 22, 2021.

On the scene and tending to a troubled auto in the early 1960s.

Photos: Greeley Fire Department On Jan. 6, 1970, fire swept the construction site of the library at Colorado State College - today the University of Northern Colorado - in Greeley. Firefighters endured bitter cold.

AURORA - 2022

Photos: Aurora Fire Department
Aurora, Colorado, firefighters on the scene of a fatal apartment fire on Jan. 24, 2022

PARADISE BOMBED - 1932

On April 12, 1932, a bomb exploded at the Paradise Cleaning and Dyeing plant in Denver after the firm declined to join a "protective association," the United Press reported. 

Joseph Bitman, part-owner, told police he received threats, the UP said.

The bomb detonated at the rear of the business at 1753 South Broadway, where gasoline was stored, shortly after midnight and the blast was heard across South Denver, the Rocky Mountain News reported.

Jerome Weissman, 1070 Columbine Street, the purported organizer of the protective association, was questioned by Denver police Sergeant William J. Armstrong and released, the News said.

The threats were by mail, the News said.

Firefighting was directed District Chief Clarence Hawkins, the News said.

BUSES TORCHED - 1970

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 fuel tanks. Workers were able to move some of the buses during the fire, news reports said.

OLD LOWRY

Photos: Fire Trucks At War, Lowry Foundation
Building 357 was home to fire department headquarters at now-shuttered Lowry Air Force Base in Denver. Today, a theater group occupies the old firehouse.