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Wethersfield antique refrigerator causes a Haz-Mat response - Aug. 20, 2010

An antique refrigerator being moved caused an unknown chemical to be released resulting in a hazardous materials response from the towns fire department at approximately 11:00 am.  After an additional response by the State DEP, and the West Hartford Fire Department’s Haz Mat team. No injuries were reported at the scene at 570 Wolcott Hill Road, and the chemical was identified as sulfur dioxide.  Here are a few images from the incident.

West Hartford’s team gets suited up.

State of Connecticut DEP gets ready for entry into the house.

A precautionary was down after entry.

Westbrook Mansion Destroyed - June 28, 2010

A fire reported at 7:35 pm across from the Pilot’s Point Marina destroyed a large house sending more than 70 firefighters from Westbrook, Clinton, Essex, Old Saybrook and Deep River on June 27. The residence on Captain’s Dr.  was unoccupied at the time of the fire.  Firefighters took just over an hour to bring the fire under control with the assistance to two fire boats.

Here is an image of what is left of the home, from Pilot’s Point Marina.

 Meriden Fire Mystery is solved

 For the past 6 months or so I came across a photo of a fire in Meriden, Ct. that was back in 1964 that I could not find any information about. Thanks to a good friend and firefighter Scott Harris the fire was identified, and a piece of firefighting history is saved. Thanks for all the time you put into finding the information on this huge blaze in Meriden on April 26, 1964. Here are the particulars from Scott.

 Alarm time was 1521 hrs.The only report of the fire was by street box #49 at High and Charles St (still in service today). The fire destroyed 3 industrial buildings on Charles St between High and Elm Sts. The buildings were the C.N. Flagg Company, Royal Park Silver Company, and the Esbec Finishing Company. Mutual aid was called into the city from Wallingford, Cheshire, Southington, Berlin, New Britain, Middletown and Waterbury.

Cromwell - St. John’s Catholic Church

I don’t know much about this early morning fire at the St. John’s Catholic Church, except for the date of March 3, 1953.

Hartford’s Fire Truck “Jumbo”

I was at a town wide tag sale today in Colchester when my eye spotted something. A post card of Hartford, Connecticut’s fire department horseless carriage called “Jumbo”. Bought in 1889 it had a top speed of 10 MPH. One more interesting fact is that the first driver Jumbo was killed after he fell off and was crushed to death. The postmark on the back was from 1906. Needless to say I bought the card.

The Middletown “Duck” - 1962

Another interesting set of photos I have run across in the pile of “Middletown” fire service images and negatives that I am going through show what Middletown Firefighters had to manage emergencies on the Connecticut River. The Fire Department Duck. I never knew that they had one, and was quite surprised when I ran across this evidence of it’s existance.

Middletown, Ct. Lumberyard fire - February 19, 1957

Posted May 23, 2010

I had a few hours this weekend that I devoted to going through my fire photo collection when something caught my eye.

I have several 2 1/4″ x 2 1/4″ negs of a lumberyard fire in Middletown in 1957. While looking at them I noticed an extremly large identifying letters of the Middletown Fire Department (MFD) on the back of some of the firefighters rubber coats. That is “some”, not all. After blowing up the images I was amazed to find that Middletown had an auxillary in which they callled out in case of major incidents. You will never guess who they are though……Look at the bottom photo!

The Middletown Fire Department’s Auxilary was from Wesleyan University!

Imagine that in this day and age?   

Hartford, CT. - Niles Street Hospital Fire - December 6, 1945

Hartford, Connecticut has had it’s share of tragic medical facility fires. Most recently the Greenwood Health Center fire on February 26, 2003 where 16 people lost their lives. On December 8, 1961 Hartford Hospital had a fire which caused 9 people to lose their lives. Both of these fire were in our generation. Memories are still fresh. Families still remember the day they lost loved ones.

There is another Hospital Fire that not many people even know about that happened in Hartford. A fire that killed 21 people, and injured 26.  Another fire that happened in the winter. Another fire that was avoidable.

Here’s a short history, and some rare photographs that I have restored about the Niles Street Hospital Fire, December 6, 1945.

From the Associated Press:

Hartford, Conn. (AP) — Seventeen people are dead following a tragic fire at the Niles Street Hospital which also sent 26 others, including 10 firemen to area hospitals. An investigation by the State Fire Marshal said that the blaze resulted from a short circuit that ignited cotton decorations on a Christmas tree on the first floor. The blaze spread quickly when the front door was opened to guide the patients out of the building. Firemen working in near zero temperatures were unable to check the spread of the fire from the converted brick duplex three story structure.

Here are some photos from that night, totally restored and now archieved for future generations to see.

Milford, Ct. -  Tractor Trailer rollover 2-24-10

The driver of the tractor trailer rig that rolled over on exit 40 in the northbound lane of I-95 was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital in serious condition. He was extricated by the Milford Fire Department after the 3:12 am accident which brought power lines down causing power outages in the area. The tractor trailer was carrying Clementine Oranges.

Hartford Cathedral Fire - December 30, 1958

I recently showed some photographs from negatives (that I rescued) at the Connecticut Fire Photographers Christmas Dinner.

The images that were found dirty and moldy, were doomed to the trash. After bringing them to a company that freeze dries just about anything to perserve them, I brought them home and started to start the long task of preserving them for future generations.

Here is a few examples that I have completed of the historical Hartford Cathedral Fire of 1958. The task is tediously slow, as I might spend up to 4-6 hours cleaning and restoring each negative to the best I can. The results on these 2 1/4″ x 2 1/4 ” pieces of history are unbelievable!

A blast from the past - Newark, N.J. Tank Farm explodes - January 8, 1983

One of the first major fires that I chased out-of-state, was a gasoline storage tank farm fire that killed one man, injured 21 others, and rattled windows in three states. According to officials at Texaco’s Port Newark storage facility. A fuel overflow drained into a moat, then vapors were ignited by a nearby drum manufacturing plant causing multiple explosions. The blasts were felt as far away as Bridgeport, Connecticut. The fire raged on for three days before burning itself out. Here are some shots I found recently. Wow, a mere 27 years ago!

December 8, 2009 - 5 Alarm fire on George Street, East Hartford, Connecticut.

I finally had a chance to put together this video that I shot at the fire in East Hartford. Take a look.

June 2, 1971 - The Fire that started it all - “New Britain’s Night of Fires”

The first, and furthest back in my memory of photographing a fire was a big one. A real big one!

Seen from our house in Kensington (about 8 miles away), I remember it lighting up the whole northern horizon in red. After recieving a frantic phone call from one of our relatives in New Britain telling us “the whole town seems to be burning” our family piled into our Oldsmobile and heading towards the flames that you can clearly see. My mother had the foresight to take her Kodak Brownie Camera with us to capture the event.

On the edge of New Britain we were stopped around the old New Britain High School on South Main Street and walked as close as we could to the fire at the American Hardware Corporation.

The huge factory building encompassed several city blocks and was about six stories high, and was located just off the south end of Main Street. Thousands of people were in the streets watching the blaze as fire departments from all over central Connecticut were called in to fight this fire, and unknow to us at the time, a major fire at the New Britain Lumberyard was also burning. This is one of the photos that my mother took that night and got me started in fire photography. What a way to start.

It all started that night with a first alarm assignment for the New Britain Lumberyard. Firefighters found the lumberyard with heavy fire throughout, calling all of the cities fire companies to the scene. Shortly after, a second alarm came in for the American Hardware Corporation. In the end, (twenty four hours later) twenty eight fire companies were called in to fight the fires from twenty surrounding towns.

Here are a few photos of the New Britain Lumberyard fire from my collection. High above the fire,  Newington’s new Snorkel Truck gets a workout in New Britain.