Below you’ll find a non-exhaustive list of significant events in fire service history that happened in the month of July, including major incidents, firefighter line-of-duty deaths (LODDs), innovations, and the like. Thanks to Grant Schwalbe and Sam Hittle for proving their insights, as well as the work of Glenn Corbett.
Some of these incidents may provide a springboard for your company training or training ideas for drills.
July 1
First mechanical water tower built, NYC, 1879
Hackensack (NJ) Ford Fire, five firefighters killed, 1988
- Five Fall in Hackensack
- Building Construction Awareness Project: The Hackensack Ford Fire
- From the Fire Engineering Vault: Hackensack Ford Fire
July 2
Semet-Solvay Co. TNT plant fire kills 50, Split Rock (NY), 1918
July 3
Quarterly of the NFPA begins this month, 1907
July 4
Elliott Chambers Rooming House fire kills 15, Beverly, MA, 1984
July 5
Doxol Gas Co. fire kills 12 firefighters, Kingman (AZ), 1973
July 6
Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus tent fire kills 168, Hartford (CT), 1944
South Canyon Fire, 14 wildland firefighters killed on Storm King Mountain, near Glenwood Springs, CO, 1994
- Tragedy on Storm King Mountain
- NFFF Video Presents Lessons from South Canyon Fire That Killed 14 Firefighters
- Creating a Command Culture Based on Trust: Lessons Learned from Mann Gulch
July 7
Pomona Hotel fire kills 12, Portland (OR), 1975
July 8
Excursion boat fire kills 55, Hadersley Park Lake, Jutland, Denmark, 1959
July 9
Forest fire kills 15 firefighters, Mendocino National Forest (CA), 1953
July 10
Columbian Expo Cold Storage Fire, 4 Chicago firefighters, 8 hired firefighters, 3 civilians die, 1893
Rolling Mill coal mine explosion kills 112, Johnstown, PA, 1902
July 11
Varig Airlines B-707 in-fight fire kills 123, near Paris, France, 1973
July 12
Hotel Coronade Aragon fire kills 74, Zaragoza, Spain, 1979
July 13
Civil War draft riot fires, loss worth $21M, NYC, 1863
July 14
Neuro Psychiatric Hospital fire kills 170, Guatemala City, Guatemala, 1960
July 15
Sonman coal mine blast kills 62, Portage, PA, 1940
July 16
Fire from gasoline in container on bus kills 14, Seoul, Korea, 1978
July 17
Two munitions ships collide and explode, killing 322, Port Chicago, CA, 1944
July 18
Ionization detector patented, E. Meili & W. Jaeger, Berne, Switzerland, 1947
July 19
LP gas tank car blast, $90M loss, Decatur, IL, 1974
July 20
Power plant explosion kills 23, Kokin Breg, Yugoslavia, 1958
July 21
USS Bennington gunboat boiler explosion kills 60, San Diego, CA, 1905
July 22
Binghamton (NY) Clothing Company factory fire kills 35, 1913
July 23
Union Oil refinery fire kills 17, Romeoville, IL, 1984
LODD: Nathan Flynn, 34, Howard County (MD) Department of Fire and Rescue Services, 2018
July 24
Little Sisters of the Poor home for aged fire kills 48, Pittsburgh, PA, 1931
July 25
Propane tank trailer blast kills 10, Berlin, NY, 1962
LODD: John Nance, Columbus, OH , 1987
- Training Days: The John Nance Drill
- Training Minutes: Rescuing a Firefighter Who Has Fallen Through the Floor
- Mayday Monday: Firefighter Self-Rescue
- The Single-Firefighter Double-Horseshoe Below-Grade Rescue
July 26
Americans with Disabilities Act passes, greatly affecting safety codes, 1990
July 27
Oldest then-active fireboat, Grattan, destroyed by fire, Buffalo, NY, 1928
July 28
Fire after B-25 crashes into Empire State Building, 14 dead, NYC, 1945
LODD: Captain Jeffrey S. Bowen, Asheville (NC) Fire Department, 2011
July 29
Shamrock Oil & Gas Corp. refinery fire kills 19 firefighters, Sun Ray (TX), 1956
July 30
Reagan Nursing Home fire kills 12, Puxico (MO), 1956
July 31
Lake Forest Park Sanitarium fire kills 32, Seattle (WA), 1943
LODDs: Five Plymouth (IN) firefighters killed in apparatus crash, 1982: Al Kriscunas, Dane Hoffhien, Randy Hansen, Brian Samuels, and Gary Van Vactor
