The Massive East 12th Street Market Fire

Located at 12th and French Streets, the 12th Street Market opened in 1927 and operated until it was destroyed by fire in 1951. People came from all around the city to shop at the 12th Street Market. They also came in droves to the market’s conflagration, when it was struck by lightning. Eleven fire department companies fought the consuming fire. Twelfth Street was jammed with people, almost from curb to curb, as the many clubs in the area were emptied of their members; and the late movie had just ended at nearby theaters. Daylight brought even more people to the scene. About 15 policemen were on duty keeping thousands of curious people out of the gutted structure. Traffic on 12th Street was in a continual snarl due to motorists who drove by to see the burned-out shell of a building.

The Massive East 12th Street Market Fire.

An aerial view of the market after the fire.

The market after the fire at the corner of 12th and French Streets.

The market after the fire at the corner of 12th and French Streets.

M. V. Irwin Company Warehouse Fire

In the early evening hours of February 13, 1958, the fire department responded to a spectacular warehouse fire on the corner of West 12th Street and Irwin Drive. The temperature in the city that day was 14 degrees, making the firefighters’ efforts to put out the fire rather difficult. The warehouse itself valued at a million dollars had in its storage some $7,000,000 worth of television sets, along with drums of gasoline, and chemicals, all stored together near an area that had considerable electrical wiring. All of the city’s fire equipment and firefighters responded to the roaring inferno. The city had twelve firefighters on the scene. Two of them suffered injuries at the fire, one firemen slipped on the icy surface while fighting the fire and was admitted to Veterans Hospital; the other, was sent reeling from the percussion of exploding drums, but was not seriously hurt. The fire raged on for several hours, with periodical explosions caused by the drums of gasoline and chemicals that fed the fire. A trucking firm, which rented space on the first floor of the warehouse, evacuated 10 of its employees while firefighters fought to contained the fire, preventing it from spreading to the nearby Delaware housing project that was only 300 feet away.

Shortly after the M. V. Irwin Company warehouse fire, it was noticed that there was so many fires consuming warehouses in 1958, that a special City-County-State meeting was held in Erie at the Offices of Police Chief, Edward Williams, on March 18, 1958, where officials decided that the danger of a firebug operating in Erie was real. The decision came on the heels of a $100,000 blaze in a warehouse at the Hammermill Paper Company, the fifth of seven warehouse fires for that year. Police believed the so-called fire bug was also responsible for setting the fire at the M.V. Irwin Company warehouse. The Salvation Army and Quirk warehouses were also set ablaze that year. The Hammermill fire was the third two-alarm fire in in a five day period. The hoses burst open at the Hammermill fire from the wear of overuse as firefighters battled the blaze.

Firemen fighting the Irwin Warehouse fire.

Fire Department at the scene of the Irwin Warehouse fire.

Union City Fires

The Union City Feed Mill fire in Union City happened in 1938. This fire was one of many fires that struck the borough within a 70 year period of a Conflagration that destroyed scores of businesses. In 1938 the Feed Mill fire appears to have been the initiative to creating the Volunteer Fire Department.
After the business district began to build up in the 1870s Union City experienced some bad fires. One of the worst happened on April 24, 1879, when fire roared down both sides of Main Street, from French Creek, south to the corner of South Street. It did $75,000 worth of damage, but most businessmen resolved to rebuild and did so. A major fire started in Union City on January 19, 1885, in a row of frame buildings, opposite the post office owned by the Ezra Cooper estate. It did $27,000 worth of damage. The chair companies in Union City provided some lasting fuel for fires. On July 25, 1881, a fire started in the boiler room of the Heineman and Cheney Chair Factory on the West side of town. It burned eight other buildings beside the chair factory and did an estimated $50,000 in damages.

The Union City Chair Company caught fire on September 17, 1904. The damages amounted to $200,000 and 23 men from the fire department fought the blaze. Another chair company, the Standard Chair Company, burned on November 14, 1906, with $120,000 in losses. The fire supposedly started in the boiler room of the factory. Seventy-five firemen fought it. On April 29, 1907, at 9:45 p.m., the Union City Chair Company again caught fire, this time suffering $300,000 in damages. A total of 83 men fought that fire. The Shreve Chair Factory burned on March 08, 1913, with a $250,000 loss. The fire started in the paint room and required 85 men to put it out. Since all of this fire activity continued to blaze in Union City, it was fortunate that Coleman Hose Company, Hunter Hook and Ladder, and the Union City fire Police, merged and incorporated in 1939. The new fire fighting body became the Union City Volunteer Fire Department.

Union City Feed Mill Fire (1938)

Union City Feed Mill Fire (1938)