Chicago 12-22-1910

[grumpy grizzly]

On 12-22-1910 Chief Fire Marshall James Horan and 20 members of the Chicago Fire Department were killed while fighting a fire at the Chicago Stockyards. They were killed when sections of a 5 and 6 story meat-packing building collapsed on them while fighting a 4-11 alarm fire in a block-long series of buildings. I strongly recommend "Fire strikes the Chicago Stockyards" by Hogan and Burkholder. Until 9-11 this was the single largest loss of paid firefighters at a single incident. The fires and explosions @ Texas City in 1947 resulted in the loss of the entire departments 26 volunteers.