Great Salem Fire of 1914
Looking at Salem today you would never know that a great fire happened almost a hundred years ago. A fire that could have potentially wiped out the whole city. It only affected the point area though, due to a sudden change in winds. The fire changed the way Salem built and inspected building, and how their fire department worked.
The fire had many factors that caused it. Most of these factors were due to poor protocols, or poor planning. The streets in the area of the fire were narrow, crooked, and crowded. The fire department did not have high pressured water fighting tactics. The building themselves had many issues. One was that the origin of the ire had no sprinkler systems installed. Many of the buildings in the area did not have sprinklers. Also most of these buildings were not up to date on inspections, many failed to have any done. The buildings were not built with fire safety in mind. The roofs were built with a highly flammable material. The fire could have been prevented or lessened if these factors were not in play.
The fire started in a leather factory at 57 Boston Street. The Korn leather factory had many dry sheep skins around, and barrels full of inflammable material. The exact cause of the fire ignition is not know. The fire was caused by explosion of the barrels full of chemicals. It is known that the fire started in the shed on the second floor, but the floor opened up to street level. The door for this floor was missing a few board. Once the fire started the sheep skins and barrels immediately caught on fire. The fire then spread upwards through the elevator shaft. The third floor caught fire because the floors were heavily saturated. The fire then started spreading wildly all around the street. It spread so rapidly because the building were way too close, and all of them were made with materials easily susceptible to fire.
People did not know what to do, they were in a mass panic. They fled the area as quick as they could. Firefighters and police responded to the calls. The area affected was so great that men from other town had to come and help of the Salem departments. These helping departments included the 21 closes cities and town. They are remembered for being prompt to respond, and a much needed great help with the fire. All companies were split up to go to different areas of the fire. They were trying to fight it from s many places as possible at once. It took two whole days to get the fire under control. The smoke plume could be seen from miles away.
The aftermath of the fire was devastating. 253 acres of Salem had been burned to complete rubble, with no means of salvaging anything. This area consisted of 1,376 building destroyed. these buildings were home to 18,000 immigrants, and their workplaces. These immigrant families were left homeless, and out of work because of the fire, at the the this was half the population of Salem. These immigrants saved what they could from the fire, although it was not much. Many of the people were seen by the fire department going into their burning house, the fire department allowed it. The firemen said that the would go in after them if they did not come back out in a timely fashion.
The militia was called in to take charge and keep order. First orders were to treat the wounds and injuries of anyone affected by the fire. next they were responsible for dividing Salem up into section and divided the civilians among those sections. The militia also protected the area of the fire from looters. They also provided food for the people displaced by the fire. In total the militia was present for twelve days in Salem. This whole ordeal coast the state $50,000.
After the fire it was realized that Salem needed to take measure to make sure this never happened again. The fire department realized they needed a big renovation, which was talked about before the fire, but was decided it was not needed at the time. They needed better hoses with higher pressure, They also needed to increase the size of their fleet. The fire hydrants needed to be updated, and have a better system to supply them. the next thing that needed change was building codes. It was now mandatory for every factory building to have sprinkler systems installed. Their roofs had to be made of a different material, because the old one was too flammable. When they rebuilt the point are the street were wider, and more organized to allow for more space.
The people displaced by the fire ended up living in camps set up all over the city for them. The Red Cross was a big contributor to these camps. They provided many meals, and any other assistance they could. Salem had a Relief Committee set up to handle these efforts. They helped raise funds to support these camps, and were responsible for governing the camps. On top of their fund raising, many local churches and group raised money or their people affected. The people in these camps slowly started to rebuild their lives. The ones involved in businesses still necessary to people started serving the people of the camps. This included barbers, seamstresses, and other small businesses.
The rebuilding of the ruins started fairly soon. The first brick chimney was erected on July 4th. The reset of the area soon followed, and when being built the new regulations were kept in mind. No one wanted another fire to happened to that extent again. Today it would never be known that a fire happened in the area of the point. You would never know that the entire area was wiped out.
The fire had many factors that caused it. Most of these factors were due to poor protocols, or poor planning. The streets in the area of the fire were narrow, crooked, and crowded. The fire department did not have high pressured water fighting tactics. The building themselves had many issues. One was that the origin of the ire had no sprinkler systems installed. Many of the buildings in the area did not have sprinklers. Also most of these buildings were not up to date on inspections, many failed to have any done. The buildings were not built with fire safety in mind. The roofs were built with a highly flammable material. The fire could have been prevented or lessened if these factors were not in play.
The fire started in a leather factory at 57 Boston Street. The Korn leather factory had many dry sheep skins around, and barrels full of inflammable material. The exact cause of the fire ignition is not know. The fire was caused by explosion of the barrels full of chemicals. It is known that the fire started in the shed on the second floor, but the floor opened up to street level. The door for this floor was missing a few board. Once the fire started the sheep skins and barrels immediately caught on fire. The fire then spread upwards through the elevator shaft. The third floor caught fire because the floors were heavily saturated. The fire then started spreading wildly all around the street. It spread so rapidly because the building were way too close, and all of them were made with materials easily susceptible to fire.
People did not know what to do, they were in a mass panic. They fled the area as quick as they could. Firefighters and police responded to the calls. The area affected was so great that men from other town had to come and help of the Salem departments. These helping departments included the 21 closes cities and town. They are remembered for being prompt to respond, and a much needed great help with the fire. All companies were split up to go to different areas of the fire. They were trying to fight it from s many places as possible at once. It took two whole days to get the fire under control. The smoke plume could be seen from miles away.
The aftermath of the fire was devastating. 253 acres of Salem had been burned to complete rubble, with no means of salvaging anything. This area consisted of 1,376 building destroyed. these buildings were home to 18,000 immigrants, and their workplaces. These immigrant families were left homeless, and out of work because of the fire, at the the this was half the population of Salem. These immigrants saved what they could from the fire, although it was not much. Many of the people were seen by the fire department going into their burning house, the fire department allowed it. The firemen said that the would go in after them if they did not come back out in a timely fashion.
The militia was called in to take charge and keep order. First orders were to treat the wounds and injuries of anyone affected by the fire. next they were responsible for dividing Salem up into section and divided the civilians among those sections. The militia also protected the area of the fire from looters. They also provided food for the people displaced by the fire. In total the militia was present for twelve days in Salem. This whole ordeal coast the state $50,000.
After the fire it was realized that Salem needed to take measure to make sure this never happened again. The fire department realized they needed a big renovation, which was talked about before the fire, but was decided it was not needed at the time. They needed better hoses with higher pressure, They also needed to increase the size of their fleet. The fire hydrants needed to be updated, and have a better system to supply them. the next thing that needed change was building codes. It was now mandatory for every factory building to have sprinkler systems installed. Their roofs had to be made of a different material, because the old one was too flammable. When they rebuilt the point are the street were wider, and more organized to allow for more space.
The people displaced by the fire ended up living in camps set up all over the city for them. The Red Cross was a big contributor to these camps. They provided many meals, and any other assistance they could. Salem had a Relief Committee set up to handle these efforts. They helped raise funds to support these camps, and were responsible for governing the camps. On top of their fund raising, many local churches and group raised money or their people affected. The people in these camps slowly started to rebuild their lives. The ones involved in businesses still necessary to people started serving the people of the camps. This included barbers, seamstresses, and other small businesses.
The rebuilding of the ruins started fairly soon. The first brick chimney was erected on July 4th. The reset of the area soon followed, and when being built the new regulations were kept in mind. No one wanted another fire to happened to that extent again. Today it would never be known that a fire happened in the area of the point. You would never know that the entire area was wiped out.
Works Cited
"Images of the Great Salem Fire, June 25, 1914." Images of the Great Salem Fire, June 25, 1914. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
"Official Salem MA Guide - Restaurants, Attractions, Hotels, Shopping, Tours." Official Salem MA Guide - Restaurants, Attractions,
Hotels, Shopping, Tours. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.
"The Salem Fire." The Salem Fire. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2015.