By Glenn Corbett
In this month’s 140th anniversary retrospective, we review two April 1894 Fire and Water articles detailing the collapse of the roof the Davidson Theatre and Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Nine firefighters were killed. The first article is the initial fire report; the second concerns the coroner’s inquest. This report usually followed deadly disasters in the 19th century to establish how and why the tragedy occurred. Similarly, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health today investigates firefighter fatalities.
In the Milwaukee incident, the theater roof trusses incorporated several hotel rooms inside the trusses, and the trusses failed under fire. Note that several factors were at play: The roof trusses were concealed, the fire was hidden within the enclosure, and the weight of the hotel rooms and the theater ceiling was enormous. Compare this incident with one nearly a hundred years later in 1988 at an auto dealership in Hackensack, New Jersey, in which a concealed fire resulted in the collapse of a set of bowstring trusses carrying the load of stored auto parts, killing five firefighters.
As Fire Department of New York Deputy Chief (Ret.) Vincent Dunn has said, “Never trust a truss.” This is especially true of concealed trusses that carry a load well beyond their own capacity.
To download a complete PDF of the original article, access it online at http://emberly.fireengineering.com/archives.html.
Fire and Water April 14, 1894:
Nine Firemen Killed. …Shortly after four o’clock on Monday morning fire was discovered in the handsome Davidson Theatre and Hotel. Although an alarm was sent out at once, the theatre was a roaring furnace by the time the apparatus reached the theatre. There was no use attacking the flames from the inside and orders were given to fight them from the roof. Ladders were run up, and the men rushed up on the roof, six stories from the ground. In doing so, Allie Reis [sic], one of the men, slipped and fell to the ground, being killed by the fall. All the men from engine house No. 4 were directed to the rear portion of the roof, right over the stage, where the fire was the worst. These firemen and others took their stations and began work, when, without warning, the roof under them gave way, precipitating nine of the men 80 feet below into the fire on the large stage of the theatre, all of whom were either killed by the fall or burned or suffocated to death.
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| A-One of the five main trusses, 16×16 inches; B-Archwork to which the theatre ceiling was attached; C-Studding, spiked on trusses to which archwork hung; F- Top trusses, supported by main trusses, on which roof was supported; G-Braces connecting the two sets of trusses; I-Studding between the two sets of trusses; J- Studding, rested on top trusses, which supported the roof; K-Kitchen range; L-South wall of theatre; M-North wall of theatre; O-Freight elevator; P-Door from hotel dining room to kitchen floor; Q-Hallways; S-Kitchen; T-Laundries; U-Bedrooms of servants; V-Ice box; X-Air flues; Y- Chimney; Z-Rooms used for storage. |
The members of the insurance fire patrol were covering up the seats of the parquette, when suddenly a light appeared through the roof above. They ran back just in time to escape the falling roof as portions of it dropped into the parquette. The scene to those who beheld it will not be soon forgotten, as they saw the struggling firemen and debris fall into the raging flames on the stage, which grew more furious as the opening in the roof gave more scope to their fury. At the same time the agonizing cries of the firemen could be heard for a short space of time, and then died away as their vitality was overcome. There seemed no escape for the men who fell on the stage. They fell into a blazing pit, and were in turn covered by the debris of the roof. The entire interior of the magnificent theatre soon became a furnace of flames.
[Assistant Chief Dever said that four companies] were on the roof when the main portion of the fire was raging. Without warning the roof went in. Third Assistant Chief [August][sic] went down …. I managed to catch hold of a fire escape just as the roof went from under my feet, and held on. Most of the men were fighting the fire from the roof when it fell.
Fire and Water April 28, 1894:
Milwaukee’s Death Trap. …[T]he cause of the death of the men at the Davidson Theatre fire … was …. due entirely to the fall of the sixth floor which, together with the roof, etc., was supported by … the Howe truss. [The] 100,000 feet of lumber … in the upper story over the … theatre auditorium and the roof …. was not protected by any fireproof material, and was exposed to the fire when once it gained headway.
…These trusses had no support in the center. They rested on the walls of the building. It was the giving away of one of these trusses that caused the disaster. …Three of the boards at the [trusses’] center were bolted tightly, while the other boards were bolted on these three, but a quarter of an inch apart. This space afforded the fire an unlimited opportunity to feed its way along the trusses. [Figure 1]
…Summing up the whole construction it was as follows: The roof rested on studdings which ran up and down in a vertical direction. The studding rested on the joist, which rested on the upper trusses. The upper trusses were braced up from the lower trusses so that everything above the trusses was carried by the trusses. Besides this the arch work of the theatre ceiling was hung on the trusses. It will readily be seen how much weight these trusses carried.
… Chief [James] Foley concluded that the origin of the fire was from the kitchen range, which measured 10 feet by 3 feet. There were twenty-four men in the rooms over the theatre ceiling when it caved in. Of this number eight were killed and sixteen injured. When the collapse came there were seven men on the roof. None were killed and only one was slightly injured. …[A]t the time the floor fell the fire was supposed to be practically out, and two of the three streams had been ordered shut off.
…Chief Foley … said that it took him about two and a half minutes to reach the fire. Flames were coming out of two ventilating shafts, and witness [Foley] told his driver to send in a third alarm. The calling for a chemical would indicate that [Third Assistant Chief] Janssen did not think the fire serious. Witness was going upstairs when the floor fell, and the roof came about thirty seconds after.
There were three assistant chiefs there. The rule is to find a fire and then fight it. At a big fire some one of the officers remains on the ground and orders the captains where to set their engines as they arrive. Witness was doing this work, because he knew that competent men were in charge above. He considered the building safe. He would have been with the men on the roof in another minute. The fire was handled by Janssen, who would not take men into unnecessary danger.
The witness then told of the death of Ollie Ries [sic], who was killed by the fall of a ladder that was blown over by the wind. Witness gave the order to put up the ladder. Ries made no objection to going up.
…The chief thought the fire started in the floor under the grate and ran up a partition to the roof. From what the men were doing the chief judges that Janssen had really got control of the visible fire and did not know that the floor was undermined by an invisible fire. These fires under [kitchen] ranges sometimes burn twenty-four hours before being discovered. Witness told of one in a residence that had smoldered forty-eight hours before the smoke attracted attention.
The probability was that the fire at the Davidson had not been going more than two or three hours. One truss was located right beneath the range.
The inspection of buildings by the firemen was not with a view toward construction but to see where doors, stairs, etc., are located. In response to questions by Mr. Hammel, the witness said that the fire was really out at the time the truss gave way. If he had known about the truss being near the range, he should have objected long ago. Did not think the kitchen should have been located where it was.
The coroner’s jury found that Alphonse Ries died as a result of an “unavoidable” accident. It concurred with the chief that the fire had originated at the kitchen range and said that “we can blame no one” in the deaths of the eight other firemen who perished. “… [N]o fault can be found or criticism offered as to the management of the fire or any person connected therewith.”
140 Years Of Fire Engineering: The Waiting Rooms
FE 140th Anniversary Archive
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