Engine Company 26 was organized on February 4, 1905 about a year
after the Great Baltimore Fire. The 2-story brick building was built on a
40' wide X 100' deep lot on the northwest corner of Leadenhall and
West Streets at a cost of about $23,000. Because of some delays in
finishing the building they didn't actually go in service until January 19,
1906. During that time the members were detailed to other companies.
The first apparatus was a first size steamer built by LaFrance in 1905
that had a capacity of 1000 gallons per minute. It had a weight of 10,400
pounds and was pulled by three horses. It ran with a combination Hose
Wagon built by Charles T. Holloway in Baltimore and it was drawn by two
horses.
The new company was commanded by Captain Charles E. Donahue. The
rest of the company members were: Lieutenant Edward Tauber;
Engineman Lawrence T. Rudolph; Assistant Engineman Nathan T.
Poiner; Hostler Edward A. Ward; Assistant Hostler George D. Otter;
Pipemen Joseph F. Danaher, John E. Medlar, Asa Griffith, Anthony J.
McHale, William H. Nash, and John M. Ford.
The first firefighter from Engine 26 to lose his life in the line of duty was
Pipeman John T. Krampe. On September 12, 1912 the steamship
"Nantucket" had just docked at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad pier 5,
Locust Point shortly after 3:00 PM. Just after docking the ship one of
the crew members opened up a forward hatch and was nearly
suffocated by heavy dense smoke coming from the hold of the ship.
The fire alarm was sounded to the railroad companies own Fire
Department which responded to the burning ship. In the meantime an
employee ran to Andre and Cuba Streets to sound the Baltimore City
Fire Department alarm box. This alarm brought the Fireboat "Deluge"
along with the other land companies on the first alarm. With the arrival
of the fireboat a second alarm was sounded followed by a third alarm
shortly thereafter. Within about an hour of pouring water into the hold
of the ship the "Nantucket" began to list and then sank on its starboard
side. Smoke was still pouring out of all the portholes and hatches.
As it began listing firefighters and ship crew members jumped onto the
deck of the "Deluge". At about 10:00 PM they began cutting holes in the
ships hull to get water hoses to the seat of the fire. At 11:30 Pipeman
Krampe was walking on the side of the ship helping to move a hose line
when he stumbled and fell through a porthole and into the ships hold,
where he struck his head and drowned. Another firefighter dove in
after him in an vain attempt to rescue him. His body wasn't recovered
until about 1:00 AM. In the course of the fire four others had fallen into
the hold and were rescued. Seven firefighters were injured while
battling this blaze which was finally brought under control about nine
hours after it was discovered.
Pipeman Krampe was 30 years old and had been in the Department for
three years.
On November 5, 1913 shortly before noon fire was discovered by a
workman of the Chesapeake Oil Company in a vat where gums and
other materials were being mixed for making varnish. The company was
located at Stockholm Street and Peach Alley.
A passerby turned in the alarm to Engine 26. Upon arriving at the scene
Captain Charles Donohue sounded the second alarm bringing several
more pieces of apparatus and Chief of Department August Emrich.
There were large quantity of oils and varnishes on hand in the
warehouse at the time and nearly all were lost in the fire.
Thick columns of smoke and fire rose upward from the plant and
one-story warehouse and firemen struggled for a short time to prevent
the fire from spreading to the warehouse of the Hilgartner Marble
Company adjoining it next door.
Shortly before 9:30 AM on December 17, 1914 Engineman Lawrence J.
Rudolph of Engine Co. 26 saw smoke coming from the F. X. Ganter
Company about the same time as an employee of the company
discovered a fire and alerted the other employees with a blast from a
whistle located in the yard of the plant. Rudolph sounded the house
box of Engine 26 and alerted the crew to respond.
The fire was located in a pipe that carried sawdust shavings from the
factory to the furnace where they were to be burned and proved to be a
stubborn blaze. Three alarms were sounded and it wasn't’t until after
3:00 PM that the fire was finally extinguished. This would not to be the
last fire at this plant that Engine 26 would encounter.
In 1916 Engine 26 received a new combination Hose Wagon built by
Charles T. Holloway of Baltimore. It carried 1100' of 2 ½" hose, 250 feet
of ¾" hose along with an 18' ladder. It also had 2-35 gallon soda and
acid tanks and was pulled by 2 horses.
On March 17, 1916 fire once again struck the F. X. Ganter Company
across the street from Engine 26. At approximately 10:00 PM Night
watchman Paul Wolfe was making his rounds when he smelled smoke in
the manufacturing plant. He investigated all of the sections of the large
building finding nothing, including the boiler room and drying room.
When he got back to the office and checked a work room on the second
floor he was almost suffocated by a dense cloud of smoke. He ran back
down to the street and sounded the fire alarm as he noticed the north
end of the building in flames. At about 10:30 Lieutenant John Hart of
Engine 26 noticed smoke coming from the building and struck out the
house box 563, which faces the north end of the fire building. While
responding out of quarters to the blaze Captain John Ward sent in the
second alarm followed by a general alarm.
By 11:00 several acres of the Ganter Company and the adjacent
Baltimore Cooperage Company at Leadenhall and Ostend Streets were
fully involved. Within the first twenty minutes of the fire two of the
outside walls of the warehouse fell and fanned by high winds, the heat
was so intense that the windows of the firehouse were cracking and
the window frames were igniting as well as the houses in the area.
Around 250 firefighters on rooftops and on the ground surrounded the
blaze on all four sides and managed to contain the fire in about 90
minutes. There were minor injuries to only four firefighters.
Damage to the Ganter Company was placed at $500,000. The Cooperage
company suffered a $20,000 loss. Also damaged were a few homes and
another lumber yard at Leadenhall and Stockhlom Streets.
Engine 26 received a new Ahrens Fox model K2 pumper on October 26,
1918. It carried registry No. 680 and motor No. 278. It was a 750 gallons
per minute piston pump and had a 35 gallon Soda and Acid tank. It
carried 1200' of 2 ½" hose and 250' of ¾" hose. The 1905 steamer was
placed in reserve as Reserve 11.
On August 16, 1926 a watch-woman working at Pollack's Furniture
Warehouse located at Ostend and Leadenhall Streets found a small fire
in the elevator shaft of the building. She ran to the street to sound the
fire alarm box 561 in front of the building. She only broke out the glass
in the door and waited for the fire engines to come. When they did not
show up she then ran a block to Engine 26 and told them of the fire.
They then sounded the house box at 8:31 PM. When they arrived at the
building heavy black smoke was now coming out of it and the second
alarm was struck out. Within fifteen minutes the fire seemed to be out
when a sudden blast shot up the elevator shaft and the entire block
long 3-story building was fully involved. Battalion Chief 6 John Kahl
sounded the third alarm and Chief Emrich sounded the fifth alarm when
he arrived.
The residents of 139-145 W. Ostend Street fled their houses as flames
blew over the rooftops. Five firefighters were injured during the blaze.
On June 15, 1927 at 8:00AM The Municipal Ambulance Service was
started in Baltimore. Medic 5 received one of the first five units placed
in service at this time. Before this service was started the sick and
wounded were carried to the hospitals in Police Patrol Wagons. Mayor
Howard W. Jackson placed the new service under the control of the
Fire Department despite protests from the Hospitals and Medical
groups because Doctors were not to be carried on the units.
Probably one of the longest mutual aid responses was recorded on
January 12, 1929. A large fire was raging out of control in a department
store in Northwest Washington D.C.. It was the Dulin and Martin
Chinaware Store located at 1215-1219 F Street and six adjoining
apartment houses at 1214-1218 G Street. The building extended from F
through G Streets, an immense open storeroom on the first floor and
the upper floor with partition walls between each building. It was fully
involved with fire through the roof on arrival. Box 183 was sounded at
3:16AM. The second through fifth alarms were quickly sounded. When
Chief Engineer George S. Watson arrived on the scene he sent in the
sixth alarm and at 3:50 called for aid from Baltimore to act as a reserve
force for his city. Engine Companies 7, 10, 13, 14, 18, 26, 27, 30, 52, and
55 were dispatched along with the Tenth Battalion Chief and Deputy
Chief 3.
By the time they arrived around 5:15AM the fire had been declared
under control and some of the D.C. Companies were already returning
to their respective houses. All of the City companies had made it to
Washington except Engine 7, which had become disabled somewhere
beyond Elkridge.
Chief Watson had thanked Baltimore City for their help and they left for
home shortly thereafter.
In 1939 the Soda and Acid tank on the Ahrens Fox was converted to a
water tank by the Repair Shop.
On January 2, 1945 Engine 26 received and placed in service a new
"modern" Mack model 85 pumper. It had a 750 gallon per minute Hale
centrifugal pump and a permanently top mounted monitor pipe capable
of throwing streams of water greater distances. It also had a 200 gallon
booster tank. The 1918 Ahrens Fox was then reassigned as Second Line
Engine 17.
On November 16, 1954 another spectacular fire was at the doorstep of
Engine 26. Around 9:00 PM Firefighter Edward Bond, a crew member of
Ambulance 5, looked out the side window of the firehouse and saw
some smoke and flames coming from the Furst Brothers Casket
Company across the street. He immediately went out and struck out two
alarms on the house box 563 on the front of quarters. As Engine 26
pulled out of quarters and led off from the hydrant and began to set up
the fire hoses, the entire block of buildings bounded by Leadenhall,
Cross, Race and West Streets was fully involved. As Battalion Chief
Frank Pollack arrived on the scene he struck out the sixth alarm. As
more firefighters arrived on the scene they immediately went to the
roof of the firehouse and surrounding buildings to cut off the flames.
Once again the firehouse windows were broken out from the intense
heat as well as all of the windows in the dwellings next to the firehouse.
Within 28 minutes a total of eleven alarms were sounded bringing about
half of the entire firefighting force to the scene. Flames were well over
one hundred feet in the air and the fire could be seen as far away as
Dickeyville, about 8 miles to the Northwest. Large piles of lumber in the
Furst Brothers yard and trailers in the rear of the American Transfer
Company made it hard to get at the seat of the fire. Debris from the fire
in the water runoff was clogging the storm drains in the area making it
difficult for the firefighters to stand and maneuver around the
fireground in the knee-deep water.
The fire wasn't declared under control until about 11:00 AM the
following morning. In all about 20 houses on Leadenhall and West
Streets were damaged as well as the Baltimore Tool Works and
American Transfer Company on Race Street.
The fire was determined to have originated in the lumber piles of the
Furst Brothers Company. Only one injury to a firefighter was reported.
Once again firefighters did a great job in controlling a large fire that
could have been much more devastating than it was.
On June 21, 1955 a passing motorist spotted smoke and flames coming
from a 2-story brick building located at 1202-14 S. Sharp Street occupied
by the John Eppler Barrel Manufacturing Company. He proceeded to
the firehouse of Engine 26 to report it. As they pulled out of the door
and saw the heavy smoke Captain Edgar Tuckey asked for the second
alarm and within nine minutes a total of five alarms were pulled.
The owner said he had left the building shortly before 5:00PM, about
five minutes before the fire was spotted.
The fire apparently started on the first floor where staves are
assembled into barrels and went up through a conveyor-belt opening
to the second floor where lumber and whisky barrels were stored.
The fire was controlled in less than an hour and Firefighter Theodore J.
Heying of Truck 6 was reported injured with a cut eyelid.
On January 29, 1956 a tragic fire took place in neighboring Anne
Arundel County. An oyster supper was taking place at the Arundel Park
Auditorium on Belle Grove Road.
Around 4:55 PM a small fire was noticed in a cornice of the roof above
an outside kitchen grill of the one-story building. Inside about 1,175
people were eating and having a good time when smoke was noticed
coming out of a trap door in the ceiling. Charles Ecker, an off duty
Baltimore City Firefighter assigned to Truck 28, opened the trap door
and attempted to fight the flames above the ceiling with a fire
extinguisher. It proved to be more than he could handle with it.
Apparently when the small fire was noticed outside it had been burning
freely above the ceiling inside the building for some time.
At around 5:05 calls were beginning to come into the Fire Alarm Office.
By the time fire companies from Brooklyn Park arrived on the scene the
fire was well inside of the hall and coming through the roof.
Engine 26 along with Engine 10, Truck 21, Ambulance 9, and Battalion
Chief 6 from Baltimore City were ordered to respond on the general
alarm that was requested shortly after arrival on the scene. Eventually
companies from Baltimore , Howard, and Prince Georges County and
Friendship Airport were requested to the mass casualty disaster.
Sheer panic ensued inside the building as the power went off and the
heat and smoke made its way throughout the premises. Some people
managed to break windows and some locked doors to escape the fire.
After two hours of battling the blaze in the 80' X 160' block structure
firefighters made their way into the building and found 10 victims, all of
them women, dead. Nine were found huddled together in a rear room,
trapped by the smoke and a locked exit door and one was found on the
other side of the main area.
Over 250 victims were treated in area hospitals with 14 serious enough
to be admitted. One of those seriously injured was Mr. Andrew Brady,
who had retired from the Baltimore City Fire Department in 1943, as an
Assistant Engineman from Engine Company 26 with 22 years service. He
had been working at the affair as a special policeman and as the fire
began to rage he actually stood on a table to calm the patrons down
and direct them to the exits out of the building. Despite burns on his
face and back, he stayed until he thought he had gotten every last
person out that night. He was reported to be the last person to come
out alive. When he finally got out he was taken to South Baltimore
General Hospital with third degree burns to his face and upper body.
He suffered for six days until he died and became the eleventh victim
on February 4th. He became the true hero of the tragedy telling his
family at the hospital that he was glad he was there and had helped as
many people as he did to escape.
On March 7, 1959 a member of Ambulance No. 5 suffered to a line of
duty death. After completing a difficult and traumatic shift on Ambulance
5 Firefighter Franklin E. Koontz completed his shift and had returned to
his residence to relax. The next morning while putting on his shoes he
collapsed. He was transported to South Baltimore General Hospital
where he was pronounced dead of a heart attack. He was 48 years old
and had been in the Department for 17 years.
On December 16, 1960 the 1945 Mack pumper was replaced by a new
FWD model 145GK pumper. It had a 1000 GPM Waterous centrifugal
pump and a 250 gallon water tank. It also was equipped with a mounted
monitor pipe on top. The 1945 Mack was reassigned to Engine 53 in May
of 1961.
On February 10, 1961 Engine 26 and Truck 6 were dispatched on a silent
alarm at 5:21 PM to investigate a fire in a building at Barney and Race
Streets. When they arrived on the scene the narrow streets were
clogged with snow and parked cars, making it difficult to position the
apparatus.
Heavy smoke was coming from the four-story brick warehouse
occupied by the Volunteers of America, so Lieutenant Russell H.
Franklin of Truck 6 radioed for the box to be struck out followed by the
third alarm within four minutes.
The fire was confined to stored furniture, paper, clothes and rags on
the first floor but heavy smoke found its way throughout the entire
building.
It was under control within 45 minutes and the only injury reported was
to Battalion Chief 6, Thomas F. Potter. He was overcome by smoke and
exertion and was taken to Church Home and Hospital.
On April 18, 1971 Engine 26 would again be the first unit arriving on the
scene of a spectacular fire right around the corner from their
firehouse. The Maryland Cup Company located at Sharp and Ostend
Streets would be the victim of this arson job. The two-story cup
manufacturing plant had closed down its operation just two weeks prior
as it was in the path of the proposed East-West expressway project.
A watchman was on duty in the vacant building and thought he had
heard footsteps above him on the second floor. When he investigated
further he saw heavy smoke coming down the stairs from the second
floor.
About an hour earlier two youths were arrested trying to burglarize the
warehouse, but police weren't’t sure if they had started the fire at that
time.
At 7:16 PM the first alarm was sounded and as Engine 26 arrived on the
scene Lieutenant Louis F. Cox radioed at once for the third alarm. When
Acting Deputy Chief George E. Moeller arrived he called for the sixth
alarm at 7:22. At 7:26 Acting Chief of Department Herbert W. Catterton
asked for the adjacent box with three more alarms. Nine alarms were
sounded within 23 minutes.
As the fully involved building burned embers were being blown about
the neighborhood by gusty winds setting off brush fires in the area.
More companies were special called to take care of these and protect
the surrounding buildings and gas tanks in the Spring Gardens plant
nearby.
The building was a complete burnout and was brought under control in
under two hours.
In 1974 due to many incidents in Cherry Hill, where the firefighters were
pelted with rocks and bottles from unruly kids, a roof was added to the
open cab apparatus by the Repair Shop. While this rehab was taking
place a new diesel motor replaced the original gasoline motor. The
apparatus was also repainted with orange fenders replacing the
traditional red to keep up with the Departments new paint scheme of
Ohama Orange and White.
On November 9, 1978 Engine 26 received their first enclosed modern
cab forward designed pumper. It was a two-door Seagrave model PB. It
had a 1000 GPM pump with a 500 gallon booster tank and was one of the
first batch of automatic transmission models received. It also had a
portable top deck mounted monitor pipe. It came in with the new
orange and white paint scheme adopted in the early 1970's. The 1960
FWD became Second Line Engine 26 and served another 10 years
before it was junked.
The final fire of the Imperial Packaging Corporation warehouse
occurred on Sunday, June 29, 1980 and was indeed the grand finale!
This time it burned the largest building, a vacant five-story, block long
warehouse in the 1300 block of Race Street.
The first alarm came in at 9:31 PM and Engine 26 was the first company
to arrive on the scene. As the crew opened up and attempted to enter
the building the heavy smoke turned to fire and they were driven back
by the intense heat. Firefighter John R. Dages received burns on his
face and was treated on the scene. Within fifteen minutes the entire
building was fully involved threatening the houses in the neighborhood.
Six alarms were sounded in thirty minutes and a total of twelve were in
by 10:30. Two more alarms were actually requested but the Fire Alarm
office was so busy taking calls and sending out equipment that they
were never dispatched.
The fire was so intense that it forced the evacuation of homes in the
100 block of W, Ostend Street and the opposite side of Race Street and
firefighters had to hose them down to keep them from igniting.
The roof and floors were collapsing in and parts of the front wall began
to fall onto the street forcing firefighters to move what apparatus they
could to a safer distance away from the building. The fire was brought
under control at 12:41 AM the following morning. Firefighters were on
the scene for days wetting down hot spots as a demolition crane tore
down what was left of the damaged building.
A total of ten firefighters were injured, none seriously. And a few pieces
of apparatus suffered cracked windshields and blistered paint as a
result of the intense heat.
After running out of the same house for 86 years, on July 3, 1991 Engine
Co. No. 26 was relocated to the former quarters of Engine Co. No. 12 at
Fort and Riverside Avenues which had been closed since they were
disbanded on September 5, 1988. The house at Leadenhall and West
Streets was bought and eventually renovated into the South Baltimore
Homeless Shelter.
On August 30, 1994 a new Pierce Saber four-door fully enclosed pumper
was placed in service. It has a 1250 GPM pump and a 500 gallon water
tank.
The apparatus is painted back to the old traditional colors of red and
white, with some gold-leaf pin striping. There is no booster reel which
the previous pumpers had been equipped with. It replaced the 1978
Seagrave which became Reserve Engine 63.
The night shift of January 1, 1996 would be a memorable night in the
history of Locust Point. Engine 26 and Truck 6 once again would be the
first on the scene of another tremendous blaze.
A silent alarm was dispatched at 8:22 PM for an investigation of a water
flow signal in the vacant Baltimore and Ohio Railroad warehouse at
1900 E. Fort Avenue.
It was a cold, slightly foggy night and as Engine 26 arrived at the
location a slight odor of burning wood and a light haze was present in
the air. As the crew investigated the boarded up building, there was a
small glow above a small window on the front loading dock. After
opening up this covered window heavy thick smoke billowed out and it
was then obvious that there was a roaring fire inside. Within minutes of
opening up the front window and a sliding door, heavy fire blew out of
the openings, curling up under the overhanging roof. Acting Lieutenant
William E. Gibson, of Engine 26 immediately asked for the third alarm to
be struck out. When Battalion Chief 6 arrived on the scene heavy fire
and smoke was showing from every window on the side of the
four-story, 250' long brick structure. It quickly became an exterior
defensive operation with ladder pipes and monitor pipes. Six alarms
were sounded in less than thirty minutes along with several special
calls to protect the railroad yard full of tank cars across the street from
flying brands. One hundred-fifty firefighters with fifty pieces of
apparatus controlled the blaze in three hours and by daybreak on the
following morning only a burned out shell remained standing. Some
companies remained on the scene for several days afterwards watering
down the hot spots as the building was torn down.
This historic building was built over one hundred years ago and was to
have been made into a museum honoring European immigrants who
entered America through the port of Baltimore in the late 1800's. The
fire put an end to those plans.
On November 17, 2002 ground was broken in a ceremony headed by
Chief William J. Goodwin and Mayor Martin O'Malley for a new multiple
bay, single story firehouse located at 1001 East Fort Avenue at Woodall
Street. The new station was to house Engine 26, Truck 6, Medic 5, and a
chief. It was completed in 2003 and on December 16, Engine Co. 26 and
Medic No. 5 moved out of the 128 year old former station of Engine 12
and into the new station in Locust Point. This move also helped fill in
the void of fire protection in that area since Truck 19 was disbanded in
1984 and then again when Engine 17 disbanded in 1991 .
The new "Locust Point Fire Station" was formally dedicated on August
31, 2004. On September 9, 2005 the station was renamed in a ceremony
honoring the former Chief of Fire Department, Peter J. O'Connor.
On May 16, 2008 Engine 26 placed in service a used 2006 Pierce
Enforcer pumper formerly in service as Engine 23. It has a 1500 GPM
pump with 500 Gallon water tank and 10 gallon foam tank. The 1994
Pierce Saber went to second line service as Reserve Engine 70 at
station of Engine 5
after the Great Baltimore Fire. The 2-story brick building was built on a
40' wide X 100' deep lot on the northwest corner of Leadenhall and
West Streets at a cost of about $23,000. Because of some delays in
finishing the building they didn't actually go in service until January 19,
1906. During that time the members were detailed to other companies.
The first apparatus was a first size steamer built by LaFrance in 1905
that had a capacity of 1000 gallons per minute. It had a weight of 10,400
pounds and was pulled by three horses. It ran with a combination Hose
Wagon built by Charles T. Holloway in Baltimore and it was drawn by two
horses.
The new company was commanded by Captain Charles E. Donahue. The
rest of the company members were: Lieutenant Edward Tauber;
Engineman Lawrence T. Rudolph; Assistant Engineman Nathan T.
Poiner; Hostler Edward A. Ward; Assistant Hostler George D. Otter;
Pipemen Joseph F. Danaher, John E. Medlar, Asa Griffith, Anthony J.
McHale, William H. Nash, and John M. Ford.
The first firefighter from Engine 26 to lose his life in the line of duty was
Pipeman John T. Krampe. On September 12, 1912 the steamship
"Nantucket" had just docked at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad pier 5,
Locust Point shortly after 3:00 PM. Just after docking the ship one of
the crew members opened up a forward hatch and was nearly
suffocated by heavy dense smoke coming from the hold of the ship.
The fire alarm was sounded to the railroad companies own Fire
Department which responded to the burning ship. In the meantime an
employee ran to Andre and Cuba Streets to sound the Baltimore City
Fire Department alarm box. This alarm brought the Fireboat "Deluge"
along with the other land companies on the first alarm. With the arrival
of the fireboat a second alarm was sounded followed by a third alarm
shortly thereafter. Within about an hour of pouring water into the hold
of the ship the "Nantucket" began to list and then sank on its starboard
side. Smoke was still pouring out of all the portholes and hatches.
As it began listing firefighters and ship crew members jumped onto the
deck of the "Deluge". At about 10:00 PM they began cutting holes in the
ships hull to get water hoses to the seat of the fire. At 11:30 Pipeman
Krampe was walking on the side of the ship helping to move a hose line
when he stumbled and fell through a porthole and into the ships hold,
where he struck his head and drowned. Another firefighter dove in
after him in an vain attempt to rescue him. His body wasn't recovered
until about 1:00 AM. In the course of the fire four others had fallen into
the hold and were rescued. Seven firefighters were injured while
battling this blaze which was finally brought under control about nine
hours after it was discovered.
Pipeman Krampe was 30 years old and had been in the Department for
three years.
On November 5, 1913 shortly before noon fire was discovered by a
workman of the Chesapeake Oil Company in a vat where gums and
other materials were being mixed for making varnish. The company was
located at Stockholm Street and Peach Alley.
A passerby turned in the alarm to Engine 26. Upon arriving at the scene
Captain Charles Donohue sounded the second alarm bringing several
more pieces of apparatus and Chief of Department August Emrich.
There were large quantity of oils and varnishes on hand in the
warehouse at the time and nearly all were lost in the fire.
Thick columns of smoke and fire rose upward from the plant and
one-story warehouse and firemen struggled for a short time to prevent
the fire from spreading to the warehouse of the Hilgartner Marble
Company adjoining it next door.
Shortly before 9:30 AM on December 17, 1914 Engineman Lawrence J.
Rudolph of Engine Co. 26 saw smoke coming from the F. X. Ganter
Company about the same time as an employee of the company
discovered a fire and alerted the other employees with a blast from a
whistle located in the yard of the plant. Rudolph sounded the house
box of Engine 26 and alerted the crew to respond.
The fire was located in a pipe that carried sawdust shavings from the
factory to the furnace where they were to be burned and proved to be a
stubborn blaze. Three alarms were sounded and it wasn't’t until after
3:00 PM that the fire was finally extinguished. This would not to be the
last fire at this plant that Engine 26 would encounter.
In 1916 Engine 26 received a new combination Hose Wagon built by
Charles T. Holloway of Baltimore. It carried 1100' of 2 ½" hose, 250 feet
of ¾" hose along with an 18' ladder. It also had 2-35 gallon soda and
acid tanks and was pulled by 2 horses.
On March 17, 1916 fire once again struck the F. X. Ganter Company
across the street from Engine 26. At approximately 10:00 PM Night
watchman Paul Wolfe was making his rounds when he smelled smoke in
the manufacturing plant. He investigated all of the sections of the large
building finding nothing, including the boiler room and drying room.
When he got back to the office and checked a work room on the second
floor he was almost suffocated by a dense cloud of smoke. He ran back
down to the street and sounded the fire alarm as he noticed the north
end of the building in flames. At about 10:30 Lieutenant John Hart of
Engine 26 noticed smoke coming from the building and struck out the
house box 563, which faces the north end of the fire building. While
responding out of quarters to the blaze Captain John Ward sent in the
second alarm followed by a general alarm.
By 11:00 several acres of the Ganter Company and the adjacent
Baltimore Cooperage Company at Leadenhall and Ostend Streets were
fully involved. Within the first twenty minutes of the fire two of the
outside walls of the warehouse fell and fanned by high winds, the heat
was so intense that the windows of the firehouse were cracking and
the window frames were igniting as well as the houses in the area.
Around 250 firefighters on rooftops and on the ground surrounded the
blaze on all four sides and managed to contain the fire in about 90
minutes. There were minor injuries to only four firefighters.
Damage to the Ganter Company was placed at $500,000. The Cooperage
company suffered a $20,000 loss. Also damaged were a few homes and
another lumber yard at Leadenhall and Stockhlom Streets.
Engine 26 received a new Ahrens Fox model K2 pumper on October 26,
1918. It carried registry No. 680 and motor No. 278. It was a 750 gallons
per minute piston pump and had a 35 gallon Soda and Acid tank. It
carried 1200' of 2 ½" hose and 250' of ¾" hose. The 1905 steamer was
placed in reserve as Reserve 11.
On August 16, 1926 a watch-woman working at Pollack's Furniture
Warehouse located at Ostend and Leadenhall Streets found a small fire
in the elevator shaft of the building. She ran to the street to sound the
fire alarm box 561 in front of the building. She only broke out the glass
in the door and waited for the fire engines to come. When they did not
show up she then ran a block to Engine 26 and told them of the fire.
They then sounded the house box at 8:31 PM. When they arrived at the
building heavy black smoke was now coming out of it and the second
alarm was struck out. Within fifteen minutes the fire seemed to be out
when a sudden blast shot up the elevator shaft and the entire block
long 3-story building was fully involved. Battalion Chief 6 John Kahl
sounded the third alarm and Chief Emrich sounded the fifth alarm when
he arrived.
The residents of 139-145 W. Ostend Street fled their houses as flames
blew over the rooftops. Five firefighters were injured during the blaze.
On June 15, 1927 at 8:00AM The Municipal Ambulance Service was
started in Baltimore. Medic 5 received one of the first five units placed
in service at this time. Before this service was started the sick and
wounded were carried to the hospitals in Police Patrol Wagons. Mayor
Howard W. Jackson placed the new service under the control of the
Fire Department despite protests from the Hospitals and Medical
groups because Doctors were not to be carried on the units.
Probably one of the longest mutual aid responses was recorded on
January 12, 1929. A large fire was raging out of control in a department
store in Northwest Washington D.C.. It was the Dulin and Martin
Chinaware Store located at 1215-1219 F Street and six adjoining
apartment houses at 1214-1218 G Street. The building extended from F
through G Streets, an immense open storeroom on the first floor and
the upper floor with partition walls between each building. It was fully
involved with fire through the roof on arrival. Box 183 was sounded at
3:16AM. The second through fifth alarms were quickly sounded. When
Chief Engineer George S. Watson arrived on the scene he sent in the
sixth alarm and at 3:50 called for aid from Baltimore to act as a reserve
force for his city. Engine Companies 7, 10, 13, 14, 18, 26, 27, 30, 52, and
55 were dispatched along with the Tenth Battalion Chief and Deputy
Chief 3.
By the time they arrived around 5:15AM the fire had been declared
under control and some of the D.C. Companies were already returning
to their respective houses. All of the City companies had made it to
Washington except Engine 7, which had become disabled somewhere
beyond Elkridge.
Chief Watson had thanked Baltimore City for their help and they left for
home shortly thereafter.
In 1939 the Soda and Acid tank on the Ahrens Fox was converted to a
water tank by the Repair Shop.
On January 2, 1945 Engine 26 received and placed in service a new
"modern" Mack model 85 pumper. It had a 750 gallon per minute Hale
centrifugal pump and a permanently top mounted monitor pipe capable
of throwing streams of water greater distances. It also had a 200 gallon
booster tank. The 1918 Ahrens Fox was then reassigned as Second Line
Engine 17.
On November 16, 1954 another spectacular fire was at the doorstep of
Engine 26. Around 9:00 PM Firefighter Edward Bond, a crew member of
Ambulance 5, looked out the side window of the firehouse and saw
some smoke and flames coming from the Furst Brothers Casket
Company across the street. He immediately went out and struck out two
alarms on the house box 563 on the front of quarters. As Engine 26
pulled out of quarters and led off from the hydrant and began to set up
the fire hoses, the entire block of buildings bounded by Leadenhall,
Cross, Race and West Streets was fully involved. As Battalion Chief
Frank Pollack arrived on the scene he struck out the sixth alarm. As
more firefighters arrived on the scene they immediately went to the
roof of the firehouse and surrounding buildings to cut off the flames.
Once again the firehouse windows were broken out from the intense
heat as well as all of the windows in the dwellings next to the firehouse.
Within 28 minutes a total of eleven alarms were sounded bringing about
half of the entire firefighting force to the scene. Flames were well over
one hundred feet in the air and the fire could be seen as far away as
Dickeyville, about 8 miles to the Northwest. Large piles of lumber in the
Furst Brothers yard and trailers in the rear of the American Transfer
Company made it hard to get at the seat of the fire. Debris from the fire
in the water runoff was clogging the storm drains in the area making it
difficult for the firefighters to stand and maneuver around the
fireground in the knee-deep water.
The fire wasn't declared under control until about 11:00 AM the
following morning. In all about 20 houses on Leadenhall and West
Streets were damaged as well as the Baltimore Tool Works and
American Transfer Company on Race Street.
The fire was determined to have originated in the lumber piles of the
Furst Brothers Company. Only one injury to a firefighter was reported.
Once again firefighters did a great job in controlling a large fire that
could have been much more devastating than it was.
On June 21, 1955 a passing motorist spotted smoke and flames coming
from a 2-story brick building located at 1202-14 S. Sharp Street occupied
by the John Eppler Barrel Manufacturing Company. He proceeded to
the firehouse of Engine 26 to report it. As they pulled out of the door
and saw the heavy smoke Captain Edgar Tuckey asked for the second
alarm and within nine minutes a total of five alarms were pulled.
The owner said he had left the building shortly before 5:00PM, about
five minutes before the fire was spotted.
The fire apparently started on the first floor where staves are
assembled into barrels and went up through a conveyor-belt opening
to the second floor where lumber and whisky barrels were stored.
The fire was controlled in less than an hour and Firefighter Theodore J.
Heying of Truck 6 was reported injured with a cut eyelid.
On January 29, 1956 a tragic fire took place in neighboring Anne
Arundel County. An oyster supper was taking place at the Arundel Park
Auditorium on Belle Grove Road.
Around 4:55 PM a small fire was noticed in a cornice of the roof above
an outside kitchen grill of the one-story building. Inside about 1,175
people were eating and having a good time when smoke was noticed
coming out of a trap door in the ceiling. Charles Ecker, an off duty
Baltimore City Firefighter assigned to Truck 28, opened the trap door
and attempted to fight the flames above the ceiling with a fire
extinguisher. It proved to be more than he could handle with it.
Apparently when the small fire was noticed outside it had been burning
freely above the ceiling inside the building for some time.
At around 5:05 calls were beginning to come into the Fire Alarm Office.
By the time fire companies from Brooklyn Park arrived on the scene the
fire was well inside of the hall and coming through the roof.
Engine 26 along with Engine 10, Truck 21, Ambulance 9, and Battalion
Chief 6 from Baltimore City were ordered to respond on the general
alarm that was requested shortly after arrival on the scene. Eventually
companies from Baltimore , Howard, and Prince Georges County and
Friendship Airport were requested to the mass casualty disaster.
Sheer panic ensued inside the building as the power went off and the
heat and smoke made its way throughout the premises. Some people
managed to break windows and some locked doors to escape the fire.
After two hours of battling the blaze in the 80' X 160' block structure
firefighters made their way into the building and found 10 victims, all of
them women, dead. Nine were found huddled together in a rear room,
trapped by the smoke and a locked exit door and one was found on the
other side of the main area.
Over 250 victims were treated in area hospitals with 14 serious enough
to be admitted. One of those seriously injured was Mr. Andrew Brady,
who had retired from the Baltimore City Fire Department in 1943, as an
Assistant Engineman from Engine Company 26 with 22 years service. He
had been working at the affair as a special policeman and as the fire
began to rage he actually stood on a table to calm the patrons down
and direct them to the exits out of the building. Despite burns on his
face and back, he stayed until he thought he had gotten every last
person out that night. He was reported to be the last person to come
out alive. When he finally got out he was taken to South Baltimore
General Hospital with third degree burns to his face and upper body.
He suffered for six days until he died and became the eleventh victim
on February 4th. He became the true hero of the tragedy telling his
family at the hospital that he was glad he was there and had helped as
many people as he did to escape.
On March 7, 1959 a member of Ambulance No. 5 suffered to a line of
duty death. After completing a difficult and traumatic shift on Ambulance
5 Firefighter Franklin E. Koontz completed his shift and had returned to
his residence to relax. The next morning while putting on his shoes he
collapsed. He was transported to South Baltimore General Hospital
where he was pronounced dead of a heart attack. He was 48 years old
and had been in the Department for 17 years.
On December 16, 1960 the 1945 Mack pumper was replaced by a new
FWD model 145GK pumper. It had a 1000 GPM Waterous centrifugal
pump and a 250 gallon water tank. It also was equipped with a mounted
monitor pipe on top. The 1945 Mack was reassigned to Engine 53 in May
of 1961.
On February 10, 1961 Engine 26 and Truck 6 were dispatched on a silent
alarm at 5:21 PM to investigate a fire in a building at Barney and Race
Streets. When they arrived on the scene the narrow streets were
clogged with snow and parked cars, making it difficult to position the
apparatus.
Heavy smoke was coming from the four-story brick warehouse
occupied by the Volunteers of America, so Lieutenant Russell H.
Franklin of Truck 6 radioed for the box to be struck out followed by the
third alarm within four minutes.
The fire was confined to stored furniture, paper, clothes and rags on
the first floor but heavy smoke found its way throughout the entire
building.
It was under control within 45 minutes and the only injury reported was
to Battalion Chief 6, Thomas F. Potter. He was overcome by smoke and
exertion and was taken to Church Home and Hospital.
On April 18, 1971 Engine 26 would again be the first unit arriving on the
scene of a spectacular fire right around the corner from their
firehouse. The Maryland Cup Company located at Sharp and Ostend
Streets would be the victim of this arson job. The two-story cup
manufacturing plant had closed down its operation just two weeks prior
as it was in the path of the proposed East-West expressway project.
A watchman was on duty in the vacant building and thought he had
heard footsteps above him on the second floor. When he investigated
further he saw heavy smoke coming down the stairs from the second
floor.
About an hour earlier two youths were arrested trying to burglarize the
warehouse, but police weren't’t sure if they had started the fire at that
time.
At 7:16 PM the first alarm was sounded and as Engine 26 arrived on the
scene Lieutenant Louis F. Cox radioed at once for the third alarm. When
Acting Deputy Chief George E. Moeller arrived he called for the sixth
alarm at 7:22. At 7:26 Acting Chief of Department Herbert W. Catterton
asked for the adjacent box with three more alarms. Nine alarms were
sounded within 23 minutes.
As the fully involved building burned embers were being blown about
the neighborhood by gusty winds setting off brush fires in the area.
More companies were special called to take care of these and protect
the surrounding buildings and gas tanks in the Spring Gardens plant
nearby.
The building was a complete burnout and was brought under control in
under two hours.
In 1974 due to many incidents in Cherry Hill, where the firefighters were
pelted with rocks and bottles from unruly kids, a roof was added to the
open cab apparatus by the Repair Shop. While this rehab was taking
place a new diesel motor replaced the original gasoline motor. The
apparatus was also repainted with orange fenders replacing the
traditional red to keep up with the Departments new paint scheme of
Ohama Orange and White.
On November 9, 1978 Engine 26 received their first enclosed modern
cab forward designed pumper. It was a two-door Seagrave model PB. It
had a 1000 GPM pump with a 500 gallon booster tank and was one of the
first batch of automatic transmission models received. It also had a
portable top deck mounted monitor pipe. It came in with the new
orange and white paint scheme adopted in the early 1970's. The 1960
FWD became Second Line Engine 26 and served another 10 years
before it was junked.
The final fire of the Imperial Packaging Corporation warehouse
occurred on Sunday, June 29, 1980 and was indeed the grand finale!
This time it burned the largest building, a vacant five-story, block long
warehouse in the 1300 block of Race Street.
The first alarm came in at 9:31 PM and Engine 26 was the first company
to arrive on the scene. As the crew opened up and attempted to enter
the building the heavy smoke turned to fire and they were driven back
by the intense heat. Firefighter John R. Dages received burns on his
face and was treated on the scene. Within fifteen minutes the entire
building was fully involved threatening the houses in the neighborhood.
Six alarms were sounded in thirty minutes and a total of twelve were in
by 10:30. Two more alarms were actually requested but the Fire Alarm
office was so busy taking calls and sending out equipment that they
were never dispatched.
The fire was so intense that it forced the evacuation of homes in the
100 block of W, Ostend Street and the opposite side of Race Street and
firefighters had to hose them down to keep them from igniting.
The roof and floors were collapsing in and parts of the front wall began
to fall onto the street forcing firefighters to move what apparatus they
could to a safer distance away from the building. The fire was brought
under control at 12:41 AM the following morning. Firefighters were on
the scene for days wetting down hot spots as a demolition crane tore
down what was left of the damaged building.
A total of ten firefighters were injured, none seriously. And a few pieces
of apparatus suffered cracked windshields and blistered paint as a
result of the intense heat.
After running out of the same house for 86 years, on July 3, 1991 Engine
Co. No. 26 was relocated to the former quarters of Engine Co. No. 12 at
Fort and Riverside Avenues which had been closed since they were
disbanded on September 5, 1988. The house at Leadenhall and West
Streets was bought and eventually renovated into the South Baltimore
Homeless Shelter.
On August 30, 1994 a new Pierce Saber four-door fully enclosed pumper
was placed in service. It has a 1250 GPM pump and a 500 gallon water
tank.
The apparatus is painted back to the old traditional colors of red and
white, with some gold-leaf pin striping. There is no booster reel which
the previous pumpers had been equipped with. It replaced the 1978
Seagrave which became Reserve Engine 63.
The night shift of January 1, 1996 would be a memorable night in the
history of Locust Point. Engine 26 and Truck 6 once again would be the
first on the scene of another tremendous blaze.
A silent alarm was dispatched at 8:22 PM for an investigation of a water
flow signal in the vacant Baltimore and Ohio Railroad warehouse at
1900 E. Fort Avenue.
It was a cold, slightly foggy night and as Engine 26 arrived at the
location a slight odor of burning wood and a light haze was present in
the air. As the crew investigated the boarded up building, there was a
small glow above a small window on the front loading dock. After
opening up this covered window heavy thick smoke billowed out and it
was then obvious that there was a roaring fire inside. Within minutes of
opening up the front window and a sliding door, heavy fire blew out of
the openings, curling up under the overhanging roof. Acting Lieutenant
William E. Gibson, of Engine 26 immediately asked for the third alarm to
be struck out. When Battalion Chief 6 arrived on the scene heavy fire
and smoke was showing from every window on the side of the
four-story, 250' long brick structure. It quickly became an exterior
defensive operation with ladder pipes and monitor pipes. Six alarms
were sounded in less than thirty minutes along with several special
calls to protect the railroad yard full of tank cars across the street from
flying brands. One hundred-fifty firefighters with fifty pieces of
apparatus controlled the blaze in three hours and by daybreak on the
following morning only a burned out shell remained standing. Some
companies remained on the scene for several days afterwards watering
down the hot spots as the building was torn down.
This historic building was built over one hundred years ago and was to
have been made into a museum honoring European immigrants who
entered America through the port of Baltimore in the late 1800's. The
fire put an end to those plans.
On November 17, 2002 ground was broken in a ceremony headed by
Chief William J. Goodwin and Mayor Martin O'Malley for a new multiple
bay, single story firehouse located at 1001 East Fort Avenue at Woodall
Street. The new station was to house Engine 26, Truck 6, Medic 5, and a
chief. It was completed in 2003 and on December 16, Engine Co. 26 and
Medic No. 5 moved out of the 128 year old former station of Engine 12
and into the new station in Locust Point. This move also helped fill in
the void of fire protection in that area since Truck 19 was disbanded in
1984 and then again when Engine 17 disbanded in 1991 .
The new "Locust Point Fire Station" was formally dedicated on August
31, 2004. On September 9, 2005 the station was renamed in a ceremony
honoring the former Chief of Fire Department, Peter J. O'Connor.
On May 16, 2008 Engine 26 placed in service a used 2006 Pierce
Enforcer pumper formerly in service as Engine 23. It has a 1500 GPM
pump with 500 Gallon water tank and 10 gallon foam tank. The 1994
Pierce Saber went to second line service as Reserve Engine 70 at
station of Engine 5
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