Check the world of the fire service from yesterday and beyond back to 1877 in the Fire Engineering archives.
Let’s go back 60 years ago in the fire service to 1958. What was like to be a firefighter, or fireman, back then? The articles below are just a small sample of the unknown treasures you can find. Check out the Fire Engineering 1958 editorial index HERE to see everything that was in the magazine back then. In roaming around the archive, don’t forget the regular items every month back then, such as “The Watch Desk,” “What’s Burning,” “False Alarms,” and “Among the Buffs,” to mention a few.
Another loft factory tragedy, more than 50 years later.
April 1958, “Panic Piles Up the Dead in New York Loft Fire;” See article HERE. In the same issue, see the editorial “Lessons Learned from a Second ‘Triangle,’ ” HERE. See original article on the Triangle tragedy, “New York’s Latest Holocaust,” Fire and Water, (March 29, 1911), HERE.
Almost 20 years since the Blitz, London firefighters again turn out in force.
June 1958, “Mass Mobilization of London Fire Fighters Battles ‘Worst Fire Since the Blitz.’ “ HERE. How bad was the Blitz? See this April 1941 article, “Fighting Blitz-Fires in London,” HERE and a couple of covers HERE.
The perils of the “Atomic Age” and the “Space Age.” The fire service prepares for the threats of the day. Now it prepares for possible terror threats and mass casualty incidents, among others.
February 1958, “The New York Fire Department Meets a Major Challenge of the Atomic Age.” HERE. April 1958, “Four Killed in Space Age Fire Blast.” See HERE.
July 1958, “Nike Explosion Jars North Jersey Coast Area,” HERE.
August 1958, A Survey of Rocket Fuels (part I), HERE. September 1958, A Survey of Rocket Fuels (part II), HERE.
The sad end of a one-time hero of the 1934 Morro Castle fire.
March 1958, “Morro Castle Radio Hero Dies in Prison,” HERE. See “Morro Castle of the Ward Line Destroyed by Rapid Fire at Sea.” (October 1934) HERE, and “What Was the Cause of the Morro Castle Disaster?” (July 1936), HERE.
How did the 1958 “state of the art” aerial compare to that of 2018? Look at a history of aerial ladders.
April 1958, “The Legend of the Aerial Ladder,” part 1 is HERE and May 1958, part II is HERE. See July 1958, “Aerial Ladder Correction,” HERE.
Thirty years after its founding, The Fire Department Instructors Conference is going strong and growing.
March 1958, “FDIC Maintains Progressive Pace,” see HERE. And 60 years after that, compare with FDIC International 2018.
