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.

IT'S STILL A JOB RISK

On April 10, 1907, while chopping a hole in a roof with an ax, a fireman named Bosman accidentally amputated the hand of a fireman named Deutsch at the servants' quarters of the Grand Hotel in Durango, Colorado, according to the Telluride Daily Journal in the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.

11 DEAD IN ENGLEWOOD - 1928

Denver Fire Chief John Healy directs search for victims

On April 20, 1928, 11 workers died in a fire at the Alexander Aircraft Company in the Denver suburb of Englewood and many others were injured.

Employee Richard Trenari, 21, said: "It was a terrible inferno."

The fire was preceded by explosions in or near the paint shop, according to an Associated Press story in Telegraph-Herald and Times-Journal of Dubuque.

Barred windows trapped workers in the building where silver nitrate was applied to aircraft wings, and the floors were soaked in combustibles, according to Wikipedia.

Five corporate directors were charged with voluntary manslaughter though that was reduced to safety violations and they were fined $1,000 and handed suspended jail sentences.

By operating in Englewood, the company was able to skirt Denver's building codes.

WYOMING NIGHT WATCH

Engine 2401 of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management High Plains District shines with the night sky in Wyoming.

WYOMING LODD

WYOMING

• Ted Drake, Wyoming State Forestry, May 17, 2014
• Adam Longo, Natrona County Fire Protection District, April 18, 2012
• Jacob Cook - Evanston Volunteer Fire Department - April 18, 2005
• Robert Henderson - Evanston Volunteer Fire Department - April 18, 2005
• Anndee Huber - Newcastle Fire Department - May 22, 2003
• Roger "Bo" Rathbun - Crook County Firefighters - November 8, 2000 
• James Burnett - Oklahoma Forestry Services - August 11, 2000 
• Bruce Honstain - Powell F.D. - September 10, 1996
• Wilbert Hansen - Laramie Co. #6 - Nov. 11, 1993
• James E. Dame - Natrona Co. Firefighters - March 7, 1991
• Alan L. Mickelson - Gillette F.D. - January 31, 1989
• Edward L. Hutton - BLM - October 11, 1988
• Donald Kuykendall - U.S. Forest Service - Sept. 11, 1988
• Merrin Rodgers - BLM - August 19, 1988
• Darrell D. Staley - Evanston F.D. - July 4, 1988
• Steven L. Huitt - F.E. Warren AFB - April 21, 1988
• Douglas Cuzzort - Bighorn Airways - September 3, 1983
• Gene Ahrendt - September 3, 1983
• Cecil Lynch - Jackson Fire Department - August 8, 1980
• Kenneth D. Double - F.E. Warren AFB - July 21, 1976
• Robert C. Moore - Cody F.D. - May 20, 1974
• James R. Elgin - August 18, 1970 
• John E. Bastian - August 18, 1970 
• David L. Stoudt - Avery Aviation - September 3, 1969
• Wayne A. Garkie - September 3, 1969
• Galen M. Northrop - BLM - August 14, 1969
• Ike Roberts - Rock Springs F.D. - September 15, 1962
• Floyd L. Travis - Campbell Co. Fire Dept. - July 24, 1960
• Elsie Christensen - Weston Co. Fire - October 23, 1952
• Michael T. Sullivan - Cheyenne F.D. - March 13, 1952
• Edward Archer - U.S. Forest Service - September 7, 1950
• C.K. Coltrane - Casper Fire Department - January 16, 1949 
• Alfred G. Clayton - U.S. Forest Service - August 21, 1937
• Rex A. Hale - U.S. Forest Service - August 21, 1937
• Billy Lea - Bureau of Public Roads - August 21, 1937
• Paul E. Tyrrell - U.S. Forest Service - August 21, 1937
• James Saba - Civilian Cons. Corps - August 21, 1937
• Clyde Allen - Civilian Cons. Corps - August 21, 1937
• Roy Bevens - Civilian Cons. Corps - August 21, 1937
• George  Rodgers - Civilian Cons. Corps - August 21, 1937
• Mack T. Mayabb - Civilian Cons. Corps - August 21, 1937
• Ambrocio Garza - Civilian Cons. Corps - August 21, 1937
• Earnest Seelke - Civilian Cons. Corps - August 21, 1937
• John B. Gerdes - Civilian Cons. Corps - August 21, 1937
• Rubin D. Sherry - Civilian Cons. Corps - August 21, 1937
• Will C. Griffith - Civilian Cons. Corps - August 21, 1937
• William Whitlock - Civilian Cons. Corps - August 21, 1937
• Henry Larsen - Rawlins F.D. - February 23, 1930
• Fred W. Tossie - Sheridan F.D. - January 22, 1929
• John S. Federhen - Cheyenne F.D. - September 10, 1920

RUB-A-DUB - 1962

"We did our job and got the hell out of there." That's how Denver Assistant Fire Chief John DeJong, described the Dec. 13, 1962 rescue of Linda Jane Hinchman, a student at Colorado Womens College. Hinchman, 17, of Glenwood, Indiana, wedged her toe in a bathtub faucet. Firemen sawed the faucet and freed her toe with petroleum jelly. She kept the faucet, according to a UPI story in the News-Press of St. Joseph, Missouri.

SOUTH METRO

Photo: South Metro Fire Rescue

Colorado's South Metro Fire Rescue is major force in the Denver area.

It traces its roots to the Castlewood Fire Protection District, which consolidated with the Castle Pines Fire Department and North Douglas County Fire Protection District in 1986 and the Cherry Hills Fire Protection District in 1989, according to Wikipedia.

The name South Metro name was adopted in the late 1990s.

Its territory expanded through further consolidation and includes Bow Mar, Castle Pines, Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, Columbine Valley, Foxfield, Greenwood Village, Littleton, Lone Tree, Parker, Castle Pines Village, Highlands Ranch, Louviers, Centennial Airport, the Denver Tech Center, Inverness, Meridian Office Park and unincorporated sections of Arapahoe and Douglas counties. 

Today, South Metro Fire Rescue operates 30 fire stations, protecting 300 square miles of Arapahoe, Douglas and Jefferson counties, according to its website.

FEDERAL HEIGHTS - 1976

On Jan. 7, 1976, Guyon Zimmerman, 60, a volunteer firefighter with Colorado's Federal Heights Fire Department, suffered a fatal heart attack at a trailer park fire, according to the next day's Rocky Mountain News.

Zimmerman was airlifted to St. Anthony's Hospital from the Countryside Village Mobile Home Park at 9850 North Federal Boulevard, the newspaper reported.

The fire heavily damaged the trailer home of Dale Roush.

Zimmerman, who resided at 2000 West 92nd Ave., was survived by his wife Nellie B. Zimmerman, mayor pro-tem of Federal Heights, and two adult daughters.

The Rocky Mountain News made no mention of other injuries, the suspected cause of the fire, mutual aid, etc.

MARSHALL FIRE - 2021

Photo: Longmont Fire Department

On Dec. 30, 2021, the Marshall Fire ripped across Bounder County grasslands, destroying more than 1,000 structures in Louisville, Superior and unincorporated neighborhoods.

Winds in excess of 105 mph fed the flames and scattered red hot embers far and wide. Little could be done early on despite the determined efforts of firefighters. 

A man died and another person was listed as missing and presumed dead in one of the most costly blazes in Colorado history. It was remarkable more people didn't perish given the speed of the fire. The low death toll speaks volumes about evacuation efforts.

“It’s unbelievable we don’t have a list of 100 missing persons -- but we don’t,” Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said.

Longmont Firefighter Patrick Kramer captured images of the disaster, according to 9News, including this photograph. 

“Those winds and that fire would preheat the house next to it and then catch that house on fire and then it would spread to the next house, to the next house, to the next house," Kramer said. "We just tried to get ahead of it and stop what we could."

Investigators said the fire started near a religious compound in Marshall.

Home accounted for most of the property losses. A large hotel also burned as did commercial structures. A hospital in Louisville was spared thanks to the bravery of its staff, but sustained heavy smoke damage. Its patients were safely evacuated.

As the last of the flames were extinguished, Louisville Fire Chief John Willson told 9News: "It's been three days now and I still can't wrap my head around this." 

Photo: White House

President Joe Biden toured the area, consoling victims and thanking firefighters, police and first responders. "There’s an old expression: God made man, and then he made a few firefighters.  And there’s some truth to that," Biden said.

BARNETT BUILDING - 1932

Photos: Rocky Mountain News

On Feb. 17, 1932, fire broke out at the Barnett Building at 16th and Larimer streets in downtown Denver, engulfing the top floors in near-zero temperatures.

Eight firefighters and a watchman suffered burns and smoke inhalation, reports said. "Fire Chief Healy, veteran smoke eater and one of the best known firefighters in the country, narrowly escaped death," the Associated Press wrote.

Fire crews rescued two elderly men and a nurse by ladder and rope, The Rocky Mountain News said. Frozen hose spray glazed pavement and electric street car lines. Flames spread to the neighboring Golden Eagle Dry Goods Co. 

The News said  "a considerable quantity of hose was destroyed" as firefighters battled the blaze with high water pressure. Chief Healy requested 7,000 feet - immediately. A prior hose order had been delayed for financial reasons. Denver and the nation were mired in an economic depression in 1932.

The News identified the injured firefighters as John Treckman, 30, of 2757 Curtis St.; Frank Antonio, 31, of 139 S. Kalamath St.; Walter T. O'Neill, 28, of 403 S. Downing St.; John Doherty, 30, of 343 S. Grant St.; Lieutenant William J. Schwairy, 35, of 2110 W. 29th Ave.; J. W. Watson, 27, of 107 E. Alameda Ave.; William Myers, 27, of 3312 W. 38th Ave.; C. H. Jansen, 30, of 1182 S. Washington St.

History shows downtown Denver was primed for fire in the early 20th Century, owning to antiquated building design, primitive fire protection systems and factories intertwined with hotels and other businesses.

Among other blazes:

- On July 8,1927, an early morning fire damaged the Broadway Theatre in Denver, the Longmont Times reported. The blaze started in the properties room and spread to the curtain loft before it was stopped. The adjacent Cosmopolitan Hotel sustained smoke damage.

- On March 19, 1928, Colorado House, one of the city's oldest hotels, was "partially destroyed" by fire, according to the Associated Press. Several people jumped from windows.

- On Sept. 6, 1928, a general alarm fire consumed to Loop Market block in downtown Denver, the Associated Press reported. Twelve firefighters suffered injuries and 10 others received oxygen at the scene.

RUNS & WORKERS

On Sept, 18, 1978, fire gutted F.J. LeGrue & Co., a florist, on South Broadway, Denver. 

Photo: Greeley Fire Dept.
Island Grove grandstand, Greeley - 1977

Photo: Poudre Valley Fire Authority
Fire in downtown Fort Collins, circa 1970s or 1980s

Photo: Poudre Valley Fire Authority
Fire in downtown Fort Collins, circa 1970s or 1980s

16th Street, Cheyenne, Wyoming, date unknown.

Cheyenne High School, Aug. 6, 1963.

GREAT FIRE OF BUTTE - 1905

By Peter Sanger

Butte Fire Chief
As told to Fire Engineering magazine in 1905

Butte, Montana

At 8:30 o’clock on Sunday morning, September 24, an alarm was received from one of the main business districts of the city. In less than a moment’s time the department arrived at the scene, and found the fire to be in the boiler room, which was located in the sub-basement of the Symons Dry Goods company’s store. A general alarm was then turned in, and in five minutes’ time the whole department was on hand, including thirty-seven men.

The ground floor on Galena street was known as the basement, and was cut through on the alley line with a roadway or passage, open only at one end, over which the three upper stories formed an arch. Beneath this basement, or lower story facing on Galena street, was an excavation the whole length of the building, used as a sub-basement, in the Park street end of which stood the furnace and boiler room, and this was where the tire started.

The boiler room could be entered only by way of the store proper, or by a star, the entrance of which opened on to the arched passage already mentioned. The door to this entrance being heavily barred, and the passage forming a trap for the smoke and flames, it was an impossibility to reach the seat of the fire at once.

The basements were completely filled with stock, and the fire smoldered for some little time; but, after the flames reached the elevator-shaft, they spread rapidly, burning through the upper floors and enveloping the entire building, and made their way to the adjoining building, which included, to the east, the Barret & Jackey block, a two-story brick building, and the Woodworth block, a three-story brick building, which, with the Symons’ store building, were completely ruined, and a one-story brick building, which was partially burned.

All of these buildings ran the whole length of the block from Park to Galena streets. To the west stood the Ogden block, a three-story brick building, facing on Galena street, and running only to the alley. The interior of this building was considerably damaged by smoke and water.

To the south, across Galena street, and to the west, across the southern extension of Academy street, fire broke out in the Paumie block and Renshaw hall, but was soon extinguished in both places, the principal damage resulting from water and smoke.

During the morning a fierce gale was blowing to the northwest, and it was only by the hardest work that the fire was kept from spreading to the buildings on the opposite side of Park street. A firebrand, however, was carried beyond these to the roof of the public library, a three-story brick structure, on the farther side of Academy street, and one block above Park street.

This was burned down to the second story. Owing to the high wind, it looked for a while as though the fire were going to result seriously; but by one o’clock it was well under control, and no further apprehension was felt, upon the part either of the firemen or the citizens.

Assistance was offered us by the different departments throughout the State, and, when the situation was most discouraging, that of the Anaconda department was accepted.  This department promptly responded, bringing a steamer and several thousand feet of hose.

Twenty-eight streams of water were thrown at one time during the course of the fire on Park street and at the library, and the water supply never once gave out. Taking into consideration the location and construction of the building in which the fire started, as well as the strong wind blowing at the time, the termination of the fire must be considered very fortunate and the ensuing loss very small.