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The first in a series of major fires to strike Todd Shipyards on Harbor Island took place the afternoon of October 21, 1964.
Fire started in the sub‑structure near the outer end of Pier 7, a work pier on the north side of the facility. Fire was started by sparks from a welder’s torch. On the west side of that pier was moored a frame drydock with the U.S. Navy destroyer “U.S.S. Marshall” up on clocks for repair. Initial efforts to stop the fire by direct attack beneath the pier failed when an on‑shore wind drove the fire inland faster than it could be extinguished. Four engine companies, both men and apparatus, were forced to beat a hasty retreat when fire was found under the pier behind them. Fireboats “Duwamish” and “Alki” provided exposure protection to shipyard crews as they floated another drydock, containing the Washington State Ferry System’s showpiece, the ferry boat “M.V. Kalakala,” away from the west side of the destroyer’s drydock, which was now itself on fire. The idea of submerging that drydock to extinguish the fire inside it, was negated by the fact that missing side plates on the destroyer would cause its sinking as well. The fire was contained when fire fighters were lowered by ropes into the drydock’s burning east wingwall, using hand lines to extinguish the fire. The first alarm was transmitted at 2:42 p.m., a 2‑11 at 2:47 p.m., 3‑11 at 3:09 p.m., and a request for four more engine companies at 3:56 p.m. The fire was not “tapped out” until 9:3 1 p.m., after twelve fire fighters and fifteen shipyard employees suffered varying degrees of injuries and smoke inhalation. Loss was fixed at about half a million dollars. The following month, a new aerial ladder truck was placed in service in the University District. This marked the first time a ladder truck with an aerial was operated in a district aside from the downtown area. Traditionally, the downtown area boasted three tractor‑trailer aerial trucks while all other ladder companies used city service trucks. The new Maxim I 00‑foot aerial truck was another Seattle first ‑ the first non‑tillered aerial truck – when it went into service at Ladder 9 on November 30, 1964. The use of the “1-11” as a precautionary second alarm was discontinued in July, 1967. There had been a period of a year or so marked by numerous fires due, in part, to increased incidents of civil disturbances and in part to an increase in the number of old vacant buildings, both phenomena common to cities throughout the nation at that time. It was decided that if a second alarm might be needed a full “2‑11 “ response should be dispatched initially. The entire 2‑11 response, or portions thereof, could be turned around at any time. To assist minority members of the community in being successful candidates for civil service positions, the City of Seattle, in 1968, instigated a trainee program for all its departments. By June of that year, the Seattle Fire Department plan, under Chief Vickery, had set up a training package and recruited twelve Black applicants. At the time of the program’s inception there were four black members on the Department roster, including Claude Harris, who was now a Lieutenant at Ladder 3. In about one year the trainee program would increase the number of black members to fourteen. The Fire Departmentenjoyed the greatest measure of success in minority recruitment of any City agency. This program continued to increase the participation of minority membership in the Department for almost ten years. The last of the six large 1960s fires which plagued Todd Shipyards was also the most tragic and the toughest to fight. Thanksgiving Day, the 28th of November, 1968, was cool and overcast. Turkey dinners were being enjoyed by many on‑duty members of Platoon “B” working the day shift. In the early hours of the afternoon, an electrical short circuit at a bend in temporary I 10‑220‑volt conduit running under long repair Pier 4, at the northwest cornerof the plant property, ignited creosote‑covered timber in the sub‑structure. Discovery of the fire was delayed due to the prevailing wind, which initially dissipated the smoke beneath the pier. When the smoldering fire reached the center of the pier sub‑structure, heat began to affect the three main 440‑volt conduits supplying the pier. Circuit breakers began to smoke. It was at this point, possibly half an hour after the fire originally ignited, that the shipyard employees noticed something amiss and began to investigate the problem. Fire! Again! The 1: 10 p.m. 1st alarm response brought four engine companies, two ladder companies, the fireboat “Duwamish,” the Chief of the 5thBattalion, and the Deputy Chief of the 1st Battalion. Shortly after arrival of the first unit, heat ruptured an oxygen pipe one‑and‑one‑quarter inches in diameter under the pier. The introduction of a supply of oxygen under pressure to an already hot and extensive fire, resulted in an explosive extension of the fire, so that the underside of the almost‑quarter‑mile‑long pier was fully engulfed in flames. Fire licked at the side of the tanker “Chevron Liege,” which was tied up at the pier. The fireboat provided a water curtain as a tugboat crew moved the damaged tanker away from the burning pier. The below‑pier sprinkler system had been improperly installed in some places and was ineffective. Two other vessels were removed after the “Chevron Liege” and this provided access for the fire boats. The long siege was underway. Holes were arduously cut through the pier decking for operation of hand lines. Fire fighters spelled off one another, manning the hand lines operated from small boats underneath the pier. The fireboats took turns driving into the smoke‑filled leeward side of the pier operating their water‑line monitors. The 2‑11 alarm at 1:15 P.M. brought four more engine companies, another ladder company, and the Chief of the 2nd Battalion, along with Chief Vickery and Assistant Chief Frank Hanson. One minute later the 3‑11 alarm brought four more engine companies. At 1:30 p.m. a special call went out for two more engine companies. Many off‑duty fire fighters responded from home. This was a “family” holiday. Crews from Platoon “A,” due to start work at6:00 p.m., came in early to assist. The pilot and engineer of the “Alki” picked up a crew from one of the land companies and were soon in the thick of the action. The battle to control the stubborn and extremely smoky blaze wore on. Midnight! One of the shipyard’s drydocks was taking on water and was beginning to sink because of loss of electric power to its bilge pumps. A temporary electrical cable, carrying 440‑volts, was being stretched to assist the stricken drydock and also to power emergency illumination on the fire ground. As the cables were laid out and the splices were being made, power to the system was inadvertently turned on. Fire Fighter Henry Gronnerud, a twelve‑year veteran from Engine 15, was making up one of the splice connections and was kneeling on a railroad track when that power was turned on. He was killed instantly. A shipyard employee assisting him was knocked over and seriously injured. It was 3:04 a.m. before the fire was “tapped,” almost fourteen hours since the first alarm. One fire fighter lay dead in the battle; twenty‑eight more were injured. It was said that any fire fighter that worked on that blaze took home some kind of injury. It would be six more years before another Seattle fire would even approach the stubborn nature of the “Thanksgiving Day Fire.” Not long thereafter, a large industrial blaze near lower Queen Anne caused close to $2 million in loss. On March 1, 1969, a former employee who had been fired decided to burn down the plant of Pacific Trail Sportswear at 401 8th Avenue North. This he accomplished with a fire that not only engulfed the Pacific Trail factory, but also destroyed the McPherson Heating & Equipment Company which occupied the other half of the same building. Three other nearby buildings were ignited and suffered damage in the great heat. The course of operations was marked by a series of backdrafts and smoke explosions, which blew out windows and large exterior garage doors. Many downed power lines hampered the fire fighting. Two fire fighters sustained injuries. The 1st alarm was at 7:36 p.m., the 2‑11 at 7:42 p.m., a 3‑11 at 7:47 p.m., a special call for two more engines at 7:58 p.m., and another special call for two additional engines at 8:01 p.m. The fire was “tapped out” at 9:09 p.m. During the previous year Chief Vickery had met with Dr. Leonard Cobb, Chief of Cardiology at Harborview (King County) Medical Center, about the possibility of utilizing fire personnel in conjunction with the first aid car system to deliver out‑of‑hospital care to cardiac patients. Funds were obtained from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare to finance a research project through June 30, 1972. Training began with nineteen fire fighters, all veterans of the aid cars. A special mobile hospital was built in a motor‑home body with an Oldsmobile Toronado front‑drive chassis. It was given the radio designator “Medic 1.” The aid car, as first arriving unit, could support life with cardio‑pulmonary resuscitation if needed until Medic 1’s arrival. Then advanced life support measures would be taken. After 150 hours of training, the first crew went into service as Medic I at 8:00 a.m., March 7, 1970. A supervising physician rode along with them. Ten months later the physician was removed from the unit. Paramedics in the field contacted him at Harborview either by radio or telephone. An arson fire interrupted the early hours of March 20, 1970. Lieutenant Ted Sholdra and the crew from Engine 15 were mopping up a dumpster fire at 7th Avenue and Virginia Street, when a man appeared a block away and yelled at them, pointing up Westlake Avenue. The Lieutenant started to walk toward him but was called back by the crew, who pointed to a smoke column visible over nearby buildings. It was approximately 2:38 a.m. when Lieutenant Sholdra radioed a report to Fire Alarm, who informed him that they, too, were beginning to receive telephone calls for a building fire. Engine 15 turned into Westlake Avenue to a nightmarish scene of a four‑story hotel building well involved in fire. Some bodies were already lying on the sidewalk, but many people, barely visible through the smoke, were still clinging to upper story window sills awaiting rescue. A full response was dispatched to the Ozark Hotel, 2038 Westlake Avenue, at 2:40 a.m. The 2‑11 was at 2:42 a.m., special call for several aid cars and Medic I at 2:46 a.m., 3‑11 at 2:48 a.m. Another ladder company was requested at 2:50 a.m., as were two more engines at 3:02 a.m. Dramatic rescues were commonplace that night. Lieutenant A] Sprague and crew ofLadder 4 rescued a semi‑conscious man from his room and removed him on the aerial ladder. The building was surrounded by four aerial ladders and hundreds of feet of ground ladders. By the 3:30 a.m. “tapped” time, twenty occupants were dead and fifteen more were injured. As a result, the “Ozark Ordinance” addition to the Fire Code was passed by the City Council. All hotel and apartment occupancies, four or more stories in height, old as well as new, were required to enclose all stairways, provide self‑closing fire doors at every stairway opening, seal all transoms, remove all wainscoating and other veneer-type decor from stairways and hallways, and provide doors from the hallway to the rooms with a I ‑hour fire rating. With the cooperation of the Building Department this was accomplished on a schedule for each affected’ Occupancy. Passage of what was termed the “Forward Thrust” Bond Issues in 1967 included nineteen new facilities which would replace older fire stations and realign company districts. These new stations were built and occupied between 1970 and 1975. The bond measure also bought thirteen new pumpers, five new 100‑foot aerial ladder trucks, and one 80‑foot elevating platform. It became apparent that the neophyte Medic I program would prove to be a valuable asset for all Seattle Fire Department members, when Fire Fighter Dean McReynolds, of Ladder 11, received serious burns during a backdraft at the Highland Park Church of the Nazarene, 8900 ‑ 9th Avenue Southwest. The 3‑11 fire occurred shortly after midnight, January 10, 197 1. Medic I personnel assisted McReynolds with intravenous lines until his arrival at Harborview’s bum center.Provisions Is’ of the “Ozark Ordinance” were not a factor in the modern four‑story Harbor West Condominiums at 3717 Beach Drive Southwest. The luxury apartments were built on a pier extending into Puget Sound from the shore of the West Seattle district. Fire, caused by a box placed on a floor heater in a 2nd floor apartment at the outermost end of the building, spread up the exterior to both upper floors. Four apartments were destroyed in the 3‑11 fire which occurred at 4:34 a.m. on January 20,197 1. Several occupants were forced to jump into the icy waters of the Sound in below‑freezing weather. The 7th Avenue Apartments fire was a different story. The building was only three stories legally, and not subject to the “Ozark Ordinance.” Abasement entrance from the alley, in the rear, led to a full floor of apartments. At 5:52 a.m. on the sunny morning of April 25, 197 1, a first alarm assignment was dispatched to that building at 1421 ‑ 7th Avenue. When first‑due Engine 15 rounded the corner at Minor Avenue and Stewart Street, a large smoke column was visible among the downtown buildings. The fire had its start in a basement unit by a discarded cigarette. The room burst into flame with the admission of a fresh supply of air when the manager attempted to enter it to investigate smoke. He was forced to flee the building, unable to close the room door. Fire immediately spread up both front and rear stairwells. The 2‑11 alarm was struck at 5:54 a.m. along with a special call for aid cars and Medic 1. The 3‑11 was sounded a minute later. The fire was “tapped out” at 6:13 a.m. with twelve occupant’s dead and eight injured. The result of the “7th Avenue” fire was the creation of a new ordinance called the “Minimum Housing Code” which, in effect, stipulated “Ozark Ordinance” regulations for all residential occupancy buildings of more than two families. Enforcement was by the Building Department with Fire Department assistance in identifying the buildings and inspecting the progress of compliance. A second medic unit came into play on June 1, 1971. After a second class of paramedics graduated, sufficient personnel were available to staff Aid Car 10 at Headquarters as a back‑up medic unit. Aid 10 would cover its own first‑aid car district, but carried the personnel and equipment to respond to a second medic response if Medic I were out of service. Similarly, Aid 17 afforded a medic unit in the north‑end on September 5, 1972, and Aid 14 began to operate as a combined aid‑medic unit in the south‑end in 1975. It took just over eleven hours to bring under control a fire in a large refrigeration ship being dismantled at the West Waterway Lumber Company wharf. At 5:11 a.m. on the frigid morning of January 28, 1972, the first of three alarms was turned in for a fire caused when sparks from a cutting torch ignited large piles of wooden dunnage stacked into the hull. The dunnage came from the ship being scrapped as well as two similar ships also awaiting scrapping, which were tied up outboard of the burning vessel. Holes which had been cut through the ship’s bulkheads caused the fire to spread rapidly from hold to hold. As water built up in the bilge area, holes cut in the ship’s skin let water flow into the hull, so that the ship eventually listed and turned over. The 9‑degree overnight low made this one of the coldest major fires fought by Seattle fire fighters. The fire was not declared “tapped” until 4:15 p.m., after two of those fire fighters had sustained injuries. Meanwhile, the June 30, 1972 deadline marking the end of Federal funds for the medic program was fast approaching. The City would not make any funds for continued operation available. Fire fighters turned to the public in a campaign soliciting donations, which would keep the units running until the following budget year. Response was overwhelming, with donations providing sufficient funds for several years of operation. Out of this fund was born the Medic 11 program, in which Seattle’s citizens can learn cardio‑pulmonary resuscitation. Classes are given to employee groups, service clubs, school children, and, on a schedule‑basis, to the general public.
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