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#Post#: 77--------------------------------------------------
The Fretz Building--PHILLY---1963
By: Diable Fire Date: January 27, 2011, 4:30 pm
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RECEIVED THIS ARTICLE FROM A FRIEND AT THE PHILLYFIRENEWS.ORG
BOARD ALL CREDIT GOES TO THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR.
The Fretz Building
As the year 2003 and New Year’s day rapidly approach, we
mark the 40th anniversary of one of perhaps the three worst
fires in Philadelphia’s modern history. On January 1, 1963 the
Philadelphia Fire Department faced probably its greatest 20th
century challenge until that time, and has only been equaled on
two other occasions since. In this “Out of the Past” we will
turn the clock back forty years and revisit what was clearly a
major conflagration.
Our story begins by observing that the Philadelphia Fire
Department was beginning its 12th year as a modern fire
department under the City’s new Home Rule Charter adopted in
1951. Formerly known as the Bureau of Fire contained with the
police department in a combined Department of Public Safety, the
fire department
in 1963 was an independent city department headed by a fire
commissioner and two deputy commissioners, one of whom also
served as Chief of Department. The next highest rank in the
department was Assistant Chief of Department. Below this
administrative tier, the fire fighting forces were divided into
two operational divisions headed by a deputy fire chief. Each
division, in turn, was subdivided into six battalions each of
which were headed by a battalion chief. At the start of 1963
the Philadelphia fire department was comprised of sixty-eight
engine
companies, thirty-one ladder companies, two heavy duty rescue
squads, eight “light duty” rescue squads, and three fully manned
fire boat companies. In addition the department maintained a
fleet of special service apparatus most of which was acquired in
the 1950’s. This fleet included three chemical units, a
floodlight wagon, a surplus army half-track which had been
converted to a grass fire fighting unit, and a giant deluge gun
modeled after a device used in mining.
Before 1963 the city was averaging approximately 70 extra
alarm fires per year, the majority of which were two- and
three-alarm fires with a decreasing number of four-, five, and
six- or greater alarm fires. Until 1963 the greatest response
in this era was a nine-alarm fire occurring on December 28, 1956
at 9th and Chestnut Streets at the I. Press building. In the
preceding
three years the City had experienced an 8-alarm fire at the Gulf
Oil Refinery in 1960, a 7-alarm fire in a South Philadelphia rag
warehouse in 1961, and an 8-alarm fire in 1962 in a group of
commercial buildings at 2nd and Arch streets in Old City.
The year 1963 also had the distinction of having 91 extra
alarm fires, surpassing the previous record of 84 in 1956. So,
perhaps it’s not surprising the ascent to this record began on
the morning of January 1st. Shortly before 9:00 AM one of the
members of Engine Company 26, located at 1010-12 Buttonwood
street, noticed smoke coming from a building in the rear of the
station at 1016-18 Hamilton Street. Upon notifying his
company’s lieutenant, Engine 26 and Battalion Chief 4 “hiked
out” and informed the fire alarm room of their response.
Arriving at the Prokay Baking Supply Company, a 2-story brick
building, firefighters found heavy smoke conditions in the
structure’s basement. The heavy smoke conditions made getting
to the seat of the fire very difficult and necessitated orders
for a second alarm as first alarm companies took a beating from
the smoke. In addition, the fire department’s air compressor was
special called
So that “jack hammers” could be used to break a hole in a
concrete floor above the basement. However, after 2 hours,
firefighters got the upper hand and were able control and
extinguish the fire.
New Year’s Day 1963 was a very cold and windy day with
temperatures hovering near thirty degrees. Shortly after 5:00
P.M. as the late afternoon darkness fell upon the city, and the
fire department prepared for its change of personnel at 6:00
P.M., the department began receiving reports of fire in the
Fretz
Building located on the northwest corner of 10th and Diamond
Streets. Among the numerous fire alarm boxes pulled by
civilians to report this fire, fire alarm box 95 at 12th Street
and Susquehanna was received and struck out at 5:17 P.M.
bringing a first alarm response of four engine companies, two
ladder companies and two battalion chiefs.
Built in 1903, the Fretz Building was an eight-story,
irregularly shaped building which housed numerous manufacturing
and commercial concerns as diverse as clothing and food
preparation. The structure was bounded by Diamond Street on the
south; by the rears of two-story row dwellings on Warnock street
on the west; by Susquehanna Avenue on the north; and by the
Reading Railroad on the east, which ran overhead diagonally from
10th and Diamond Streets, north westwardly towards Warnock
Street and Susquehanna Avenue. The western perimeter of the
building was over 500’ in length, from Diamond Street to
Susquehanna Avenue.
Engine 2, Ladder 3, and Battalion Chief 6, Joseph
Fortunato, were the first due companies responding from their
station at 2031 N. 7th street. Traveling a block and a half
north on 7th Street and three blocks west along Susquehanna
avenue, the first arriving companies found the entire eighth
floor of the building fully involved in fire and beginning to
rapidly spread downwards. Without getting out of his car to
further “size-up” the situation, Chief Fortunato ordered the
second alarm at 5:19 P.M.
Numerous shafts and stairways throughout the building
enabled the fire to spread with frightening speed. Within the
next four minutes, the upper four floors were completely
involved in fire. When Chief Fortunato ordered the third alarm
at 5:23 P.M. he understood that the building was beyond saving,
and that the major firefighting concern would be to curtail the
spread of the fire in a densely populated and densely developed
area.
Deputy Fire Chief Howard O’Drain, Deputy Chief 2,
responding from his quarters at 6th Street and Lehigh Avenue,
took command after the third alarm. Faced with an extraordinary
exposure problem, as tongues of flame 500 feet long emanated
from the building, he ordered the fourth, fifth, and sixth
alarms at 5:29, 5:30 and 5:33 P.M. Boxcars and a railroad tower
on the 10th Street side of the building were quickly consumed.
A fuel oil depot and feed and grain warehouse, situated between
the Reading Railroad and 10th Street, were the next major
exposures in the fire’s eastern path. Although the fuel oil
depot was destroyed, the feed and grain warehouse was saved by
the building’s own automatic sprinkler system and firefighter
operated streams.
Deputy Fire Commissioner and Chief of Department George E.
Hink responded from his nearby Kensington home upon notification
of the third alarm. By the time of his arrival, radiated heat
and the fear of falling walls emerged as a major concern. Chief
Hink ordered the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and
twelfth alarms between 5:35 P.M. and 6:29 P.M. Guided by an
ever expanding orange and red glow in the sky, companies
responding from as far away as the Somerton section of the city
and Southwest Philadelphia were assigned to various positions
surrounding the building.
The homes on Warnock Street behind the building were in
eminent danger from both the heat and possible wall collapse.
Firefighters initially working on the rooftops of these
dwellings experienced sunburn like discomfort from the fire’s
intensifying heat. Despite the commotion within the
neighborhood, many of the residents on Warnock Street were
unaware of the fire raging behind them as police and
firefighters began to evacuate these homes. New Year’s revelers
in a bar located on the northeast corner of Warnock and Diamond
streets had to be strongly persuaded to move to a safer
location. As one might expect, these evacuations were
completed none too soon, as the western wall of the Fretz
Building collapsed onto Warnock Street demolishing the homes in
its path.
It is hard to convey in words the magnitude of this
firestorm. As the fire continued, it burned with a white heat
driven by a very strong wind blowing from the south. The
building had the appearance of an 8-story blow torch. As the
wind moved through the burning structure it produced an eerie,
banshee-like noise that only magnified the frightening scene.
Despite the loss of the homes on Warnock Street, the
beginning of the building’s collapse enabled firefighters to get
the upper hand on the fire. As portions of the building began
to collapse into the center and the fire consumed this material,
the influence of the many master streams surrounding the
structure began to take effect, enabling Fire Chief Hink to
declare the fire under control at 8:29 P.M. As dawn broke over
the area on the morning of Wednesday, January 2nd, the scene of
devastation was clearly reminiscent of many European cities at
the height of World War II.
Although Philadelphia firefighters were faced with one of
their greatest challenges under adverse conditions, still some
blessings accrued. First, there were no major injuries to
civilians or fire department personnel. In fact the only minor
injury befell Chief Hink as he slipped on a patch of ice and
sprained his wrist. Second, by virtue of the fire occurring
late in the tour of the day shift personnel, personnel from the
on-coming night shift were readily available. In fact the entire
day shift was held over until after 9:00 P.M., effectively
doubling
the available manpower for both front line firefighting at 10th
and Diamond Streets, and maintaining adequate fire protection
throughout the city. Finally, the fire department operated with
approximately twenty-five “high pressure” engine companies.
These companies consisted of two pieces of apparatus, typically
a hose wagon and a pumper, and carried 3½-inch hoseline.
Because the fire occurred in the City’s high pressure fire
fighting district, it was not necessary to keep both pieces of
apparatus on the fireground. Thus, some pumpers were released
to be manned by on-coming “C” platoon personnel, creating
“make-up” companies.
The cause of this fire was determined over the course of
the next few days. Because of the long New Year’s weekend, the
heat in the building had been shut off. However, the absence of
heat increased the risk of frozen water pipes in the building,
and in fact, the building’s sprinkler system had been turned off
as well. However, to prevent frozen pipes, and electric space
heater had by rigged-up on the building’s eighth floor adjacent
to an elevator penthouse. The space heater set fire to the
flooring beneath it, which was considerably splintered. The
splintered condition of the floor created a dry, tinder-like
condition which accelerated the rapid spread of fire across the
eighth floor.
Tuesday, January 1, 1963
No.2
5:17 P.M. - Box 95, 12th Street and Susquehanna Avenue
Eng. 2, 50, 25, 27 Lad. 3, 12, B.C.6,3
5:19 P.M. - 2nd Alarm, b/o B.C.6 - Eng. 13, 30, 26, 6, Lad. 14,
B.C.8, D.C.2, Rescue 1, Car
505(Light Wagon)
5:23 P.M. - 3rd Alarm, b/o B.C.6 - Eng. 34, 20, 59, 8, Lad. 1,
B.C.4, Car 4(Chief McCarey),500(Mobile
Communications)
5:29 P.M. - 4th Alarm, b/o D.C.2 - Eng. 4, 28, 43, 32, Lad. 22
5:30 P.M. - 5th Alarm, b/o D.C.2 - Eng. 11, 1, 55, 21
5:33 P.M. - 6th Alarm, b/o D.C.2 - Eng. 35, 7, 51, 44
5:33 P.M. - Special Call - SS-99 (Giant Deluge Gun)
5:35 P.M. - 7th Alarm, b/o Car 2 - Eng. 47, 10, 15, 57
5:37 P.M. - 8th Alarm, b/o Car 2 - Eng. 41, 9, 14, 61
5:50 P.M. - Special Call - Eng.17
5:59 P.M. - 9th Alarm, b/o Car 2 - Eng. 53, 38, 66, 36
6:03 P.M. - 10th Alarm, b/o Car 2 - Eng. 56, 58, 40, 16
6:21 P.M. - 11th Alarm, b/o Car 2 - Eng. 33, 54, 73, 64
6:28 P.M. - 12th Alarm, b/o Car 2 - Eng. 39, 12, 19, 49
6:39 P.M. - Special Call - Eng.29
7:15 P.M. – Special Call, b/o Car 2 – Eng.81 (Phila. Reserve
Fire
Force)
8:29 P.M. - Fire Under Control, b/o Car 2
Cover-ups:
6:16 P.M. - Eng.5 to Eng.20
6:17 P.M. - Eng.71 to Eng.30
7:35 P.M. - Eng.60(W) to Eng.35
Eng.39("B" Platoon) with Fire School pumper as
Eng.39
Lad.9("B" Platoon) to Spare Ladder at Lad.12
Lad.7("B" Platoon) to Spare Pumper at Eng.21
8:34 P.M. - Eng.56 to Eng.15
Apparatus Relocated with "B" Platoon members:
8:30 P.M. - Eng.50
8:36 P.M. - Eng.64
8:46 P.M. - Eng.14 (Eng.36 from firegrounds as Eng.14)
9:14 P.M. - Eng. 4, 27, 58, Eng.36("C" Platoon) to Spare at
Eng.36,
Eng.36("B" Platoon) to fire
11:06 P.M. - Eng.12 to Eng.34
12:30 A.M. - Eng.68 to Eng.21, Lad.5 to Lad.12
B.C.6: Joseph Fortunato
D.C.2: Howard O'Drain
Car 2: George E. Hink
Car 4: James J. McCarey
Occupants of the Fretz Building:
I.J. Knight Realty Co.
Ace Woodworking Corp.
Cherry and Co., Children’s Jackets and Snowsuits
Children Wear Limited, Inc.
Eastern Lithographing Corp.
Fashion Maid Knitting Mills, Inc.
Golden Brand Food Products, Inc.
Penn Quilting Products (Coat Linings)
Lamaze Food Sauce Co., Inc.
H.M. Levin Food Products (Mayonnaise)
Philadelphia Shoe and Leather Co.
See-Mar-Jac Industries Inc. (Vinyl suede women’s coats and
jackets)
B.W. Woodbury Shoes
J. Greenstein Quilting
N.C. Hoffman
B. Micklin, Suits
Vogeler Co., Fashionrire Knitting Co.
Trim Salad Whip
J. Seidler Trimming Co.
B. and. G. Industries (Bank Furniture)
Extensions of Fire:
2103 to 2139 N. Warnock Street, (20) 2-story/brick dwellings,
demolished
2100 to 2144 N. Warnock Street, (23) 2-story/brick dwellings,
damaged
2101 N. Warnock Street, Lou’s Crystal Bar (and apartments),
3-story/brick, demolished
2146 to 2162 N. Warnock street, (9) 2-story/brick dwellings,
demolished
2164 N. Warnock Street, 3-story/brick dwelling, partially
demolished
SWC 10th & Diamond Streets, J.B. Hertzfeld Feed Warehouse,
5-story/brick, damaged
2042 N. 10th Street, Victorian Candy Co., 4-story/brick
1018-20 W. Diamond Street, Security Storage Co.
1000-16 W. Diamond Street, Glantz Luggage Co., 3-story/brick
SEC 11th and Diamond Streets, Norris Appartments
930 to 942 W. Susquehanna Avenue, (7) 3-story/brick dwellings
2137 to 2141 N. 10th Street (3) 2-story/brick dwellings
2119 to 2123 N. 10th Street,(3) 2-story/brick dwellings
2134-38 N. 10th Street, United Fuel Co.
2115-17 N. 10th Street, Plastering Contractor, 1- and
2-story/brick and 2 trucks
931 to 939 W. Edgeley Street, (5) 2-story/brick dwellings
930 to 938 W. Edgeley Street, (5) 2-story/brick dwellings
930 to 938 W. French Street, (5) 2-story/brick dwellings
SWC 9th and Diamond Streets, Philadelphia Gas Works, Welding
Shop
919 W. Diamond Street, Master Fuel Oil Co.
NWC 9th and Norris Streets, Adams Coal Yard, 1-story/brick
1838 N. Darien Street
1832 Germantown Avenue
SWC 6th and Berks Streets, Bill Auto Rental
10th Street N.of Diamond Street, Reading Railroad Switching
Tower, destroyed
8 Boxcars adjacent to building on Reading Railroad, destroyed.
12 Telegraph Poles
50 Automobiles
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