Notable Incidents
The history of the Chicago Fire Department includes several notable fires, most notably the The Great Chicago Fire from October 8, 1871 to October 10, 1871.
As early as 1849, when the population of Chicago was still under 20,000, a significant fire destroyed a central portion of the city including the Tremont House. Chicago Mayor James Hutchinson Woodworth used this incident to seek an expansion and better funding for the Chicago Fire Department as detailed in his Inaugural Addresses. Woodworth's support for firefighters set a high standard for the relations between the department and the mayor, and the formal funding he was able to obtain for the department marked the evolution of early Chicago from a trading post to a major Midwest trading center.
The Iroquois Theatre Fire occurred on December 30, 1903, in Chicago, Illinois. It is the deadliest theater fire and the deadliest single-building fire in United States history. At least 605 people died as a result of the fire but not all the deaths were reported, as some of the bodies were removed from the scene.
On December 22, 1910, The Chicago Union Stock Yards fire resulted in the deaths of 21 firefighters, which until September 11, 2001 was the largest single instance of firefighter line of duty deaths in the United States.
- 2003 Chicago balcony collapse
On the morning of December 22, 2010, the 100th anniversary of the Chicago Union Stock Yards Fire while working to contain a fire at 1744 E 75th Street in South Chicago, a portion of the roof and walls in the rear of the structure collapsed, trapping four firefighters. Seventeen other firefighters were also injured during the collapse and in the efforts to control the fire and rescue those trapped, Two of the four trapped, Firefighters Edward Stringer and Corey Ankum, died as a result of injuries they sustained from the collapse.
On the night of Friday, November 2, 2012, while battling an extra-alarm fire in a Gage Park, Chicago home, in the South Side of Chicago, Captain Herbert Johnson- who had just been promoted in the summer of 2012- went into cardiac arrest because a flashover of flames hit him when the fire broke through the frame home. Captain Johnson suffered second- and third- degree burns, and in the process his airway was damaged. According to Department spokesman Larry Langford, paramedics performed CPR on him on scene and he was treated at the University of Chicago Medical Center's emergency room, but could not be revived and died. A second firefighter was injured, but is in good condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Illinois, one of Chicago's western suburbs. The late Captain was praised as an exemplary officer by Chicago's Fire Commissioner, Jose A. Santiago, Chicago's Mayor, Rahm Emanuel (who was on scene), and Tom Ryan, President of the Local 2 Chicago Fire Fighters Union. A memorial procession was held at the scene. Captain Johnson is survived by his wife, Susan, two sons (1 in college, one in the U.S. Marine Corps), and a daughter. He is the first Chicago firefighter to die while battling a fire since the 2010 deaths of Stringer and Ankum.
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