On American Pastimes: What does the Baltimore Fire of 1904 have in common with the 1991 Oakland hills firestorm?

Cities burned. Especially the rapidly growing American cities of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The close proximity of their buildings, the use of easily combustible material, non-existent or un-enforced building codes, and the lack of quality fire fighting equipment contributed to a litany of tragic fires across the country during this time.

On February 7, 1904 at approximately 11:00 a.m., a fire was reported at the John Hurst & Company building in Baltimore, Maryland. Its flames quickly spread to other buildings and blocks, and within minutes it was clear that the fire was overwhelming the city's fire fighters.

“'Fire, Fire' I heard the cry
From every breeze that passes by
All the world was one sad cry of pity
Strong men in anguish prayed
Calling out to heaven for aid
While the fire in ruin was layin’
Fair Baltimore, the beautiful city."

Within three hours the first fire fighters from other cities arrived on scene, and not much later it was decided to resort to dynamiting the unburned buildings that surrounded the fire in order to remove potential fuel. Winds increased and this effort failed and the fire burned. Frigid temperatures also hindered the efforts. Washington, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Atlantic City were just some of the communities that sent men and equipment. Eventually over 1,200 fire fighters were on the scene, but most could only watch: Their hose couplings were the wrong size. They could not connect to Baltimore’s hydrants, and the firestorm continued unabated. Finally, the fire fighters lined up 37 steam fire engines along a stream, and pumped like mad, sending a wall of water up against the advancing blaze. 30 hours after the first flames ignited, the last flames were brought under control.

Beneath the smoke was left the smoldering remains of over 1,500 destroyed buildings. 70 city blocks, the major part of central Baltimore, was gone. The losses were estimated at $150,000,000 but worse yet: 35,000 people were left without employment. If there was good news it was that there were just 6 recorded deaths during the fire, and according to the Baltimore Sun, only one of those was directly attributed to the flames and debris.

The offices of muckraking journalist H.L. Mencken’s Baltimore Herald were destroyed. Mencken continued publishing his evening paper for the next five weeks on the presses of the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, and transported copies to Baltimore on a train provided free of charge by the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad. In his memoir, "Newspaper Days", Mencken recalled how the fire tempered him: "When I came out of it at last I was a settled and indeed almost a middle-aged man, spavined by responsibility and aching in every sinew, but I went into it a boy, and it was the hot gas of youth that kept me going."

Much of the destroyed area was rebuilt within two or three years. Baltimore adopted a new building code that emphasized fireproof materials such as granite pavers. Pressure from the citizenry was great, but the demands of insurance companies also contributed to the new focus on fire safety.

Perhaps the greatest legacy of the Baltimore Fire of 1904 was that it served as the catalyst to develop standardized firefighting equipment in the United States, especially for hose couplings. The earliest efforts at standardizing equipment can be traced back to the years immediately following the great Chicago Fire of 1872 (famously caused by the lantern kicked over by Mrs. Leary’s cow) which claimed 18,000 buildings and 300 lives. But there had been little progress. Following the Baltimore inferno however, the National Fire Protection Association finally adopted nationwide standards for fire hydrants and hose connections. But most cities have failed to implement the standards due to the cost of conversion and the equipment patents owned by the various manufacturers. A century later, the national standards are met by only a handful of the most highly populated U.S. cities: 18 of 48.

In the final report on the Oakland Hills firestorm which ignited in October 1991, incompatible hose couplings are cited as a contributing factor in the failure to control the fire. Oakland’s hydrants had 76 mm. couplings; the neighboring fire departments that had joined the fire fighting effort had the standard, 64 mm. Their hoses were useless. The fire ultimately killed 25 people and injured 150 others. 3,354 single-family dwellings and 437 apartment and condominium units were lost. The economic loss has been estimated at $1.5 billion.

Hank Alrich, formerly of Austin, Texas, lives in Plumas County, California. He first heard “Baltimore Fire” on a Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers LP. Poole had recorded it in 1929. He had probably found it in the 1905 "Mowry’s Songster", a songbook popular with professional musicians. The Mowry’s version of “Baltimore Fire” was actually a new version of an older song, “The Boston Fire” which was first published in 1873. 

Hank & Shaidri Alrich's cd "Carry Me Home" is available on Armadillo Records.

Information Sources: Inside Bluegrass, July 2005. Hank Alrich website: hankalrich.com

Photo: Baltimore Maryland, Feb. 1904.