1946 — Dec 12, Fire, vacant Knickerbocker Ice Plant wall falls onto Tenement, NYC– 37
Last edit on 11-1-2023 by Wayne Blanchard for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
–37 Blanchard. Cannot explain the death-toll numbers of 38 or 39 noted by sources below. Reporting at the time seemed conclusive that 37 bodies were removed and search attempts had ceased. We scanned through newspapers for more than a week out in an effort to find an updated fatality count or a note on the death of an injured tenement dweller – without success.
— 39 Juillerat. “The Menace of Abandoned Buildings.” Fire Journal, V. 59, No. 1. Jan 1965.
— 38 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 285.
–37-38 Times-Record, Troy, NY. “Toll of Dead in Tenement Crash Estimated…38.” 12-14-1946, 1.[1]
— 37 Assoc. Press. “Tenement Toll Now 37.” Syracuse Herald-American, 12-15-1946, p. 2.
— 37 Clines, Francis X. “About New York.” New York Times, 9-25-1979, Section B, p. 20.
— 37 Hashagen. Fire Department, City of NY: An Illustrated History 1865 to 2002, pp. 77-78.
— 37 Yeshiva University Library, NY. “Yeshiva University Houses Knickerbocker…” 12-15-2016.
— 36 Nat. Fire Protection Assoc. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).
Narrative Information
Hashagen: “Thirty-seven people were killed in a nearby tenement [at Amsterdam Ave. and 184th St.] when a fire which had been put out by the fire department earlier in the day, reignites and spreads.
“Just before midnight…a tenant in the apartment house next door smelled smoke, then saw sparks coming from the roof of the ice plant. He ran to a fire alarm box a block away and transmitted the alarm. Box 1753 was transmitted again, sending units to the ice plant building that formerly was occupied by the Knickerbocker Ice Company and had been unoccupied for eight years. The plant building was the same height as the tenement next door and had massive brick walls insulated with cork, supporting a heavy concrete roof, supported on steel members.
“The fire apparently was started near a pipe shaft on the east end of the structure, where a partition wall separated the storehouse and the main plant. Flames extended through the shaft to the hanging ceiling and the cork insulation in the walls. Lines were stretched and companies were operating to extinguish the intensely burning fire.
“Twenty minutes after firemen went to work, Rescue Company 3 was special-called to join in a search for a suspected ammonia leak inside the old structure. At about one a.m. (now December 12th), without warning, the roof of the ice plant collapsed onto the top floor, pushing out a fire-weakened, 36-inch wall onto the adjoining occupied tenement next door. Inside the tenement were more than 60 unsuspecting, sleeping residents. On the roof were a number of people watching the firemen battle the flames.
“The rear of the tenement tore away from the front section and collapsed. The icehouse wall and the shattered tenement became one large pile of twisted debris and rubble, entombing many people. Fireman Frank Moorehead of Engine Company 93 was carried down with the roof of the icehouse and was trapped somewhere within the huge pile of rubble.
“The department began operations in earnest as members began the dangerous task of digging, tunneling and shoring in an attempt to reach those trapped within. A second alarm was transmitted at 1:09 a.m. and numerous ambulances were special-called. Ten minutes later, a third alarm was transmitted and two minutes later, a fourth. Five alarms and many special calls were placed, including Rescue 1, to provide the necessary manpower for the mammoth undertaking.
“The firemen worked for more than 48 hours and pulled off many heroic rescues. In all, 37 people were killed [including fireman Moorehead] and 40 were injured.” (Paul Hashagen, “New York City Fire Department 1946-1969,” Fire Department, City of New York — The Bravest: An Illustrated History 1865 to 2002, pp. 77-78.)
Juillerat: “Why should anyone worry about an abandoned building’s burning down? In many cases, it’s good riddance of an eyesore or haven for vagrants. But there are several very serious things to consider.
“In New Work City on the evening of December 11, 1946, several boys, ages 7 to 10, started a fire on the roof of a seven-story abandoned icehouse. That fire was extinguished; but later the same night, a more serious fire broke out in the building, and before fire fighters could bring the blaze under control, a wall of the building collapsed on an adjacent six-story apartment building. Thirty-nine persons were killed and 22 injured in the apartment building.” (Juillerat. “The Menace of Abandoned Buildings.” Fire Journal, V. 59, No. 1. Jan 1965.)
Newspapers
Dec 12: “New York — The brick wall of a flaming ice house crashed upon an adjoining tenement house here early today killing or injuring a majority of the ninety-two persons who lived in the six-story building which residents said had been condemned “years ago.” While firemen and police emergency squads searched through debris in an effort to reach at least thirty persons still missing, a preliminary check showed eight known dead and at least twenty-five injured. It appeared that almost all those still in the ruined brick building were injured or dead.
“The cries of some of those trapped could be heard at intervals. One man who had screamed almost constantly for many hours, “Get me out of here,” was removed alive. A priest crawled through a hole in one of the shattered brick walls and administered last rites to three persons whom he believed were beyond hope. A detective who also entered the wreckage told of finding four bodies.
“Four persons died in hospitals to which they were sent after five alarms sent fire and rescue equipment to the scene at Amsterdam Avenue and 184th Street on New York’s Upper West Side. The big ice plant of the Knickerbocker Ice Company, abandoned some fifteen years, was wrecked by fire and explosion, and it was the rear wall of the big- building which crashed upon the tenement.
“The identified dead were:
Frank Moorhead, a fireman who was among the first to answer what appeared to be routine call at 11’45 P. M. last night.
Anthony Biancardi, eleven, who was taken from debris piled high on the tenement’s third floor and died enroute to a hospital.
Daniel Dorato, twenty-one, a tenant.
Thomas Phillips, seventy, a tenant.
“Nick Sloane. who had been pinned down for hours by a beam, said when he was freed that his wife and three children and his brother were in his apartment when the building caved in. Firemen had reached him by following his constant cries of, “Get me out of here.” “I don’t know whether they are dead or alive,” he said. Bleeding profusely, he was given a hypodermic and taken to Mother Cabrini Hospital.
“Peter Lagatta, sixty-eight, who left for work shortly before the crash, said his wife, Mary, fifty-nine, and his daughter, Julie, twenty-six were trapped on the second floor and probably were dead. Lagatta said the building had been condemned as long as eight years ago, but because of the war no one had been forced to move. ‘We always knew it was a firetrap,’ he said, ‘but we had no place else to go.’
“Ten-year-old Joseph Popper, Jr. was one of the first to be carried out of the tenement by rescue workers. Barely conscious, he gasped that his mother, Eileen; his father, Joseph, Sr.’ his brother, John, seven, and a three-weeks-old sister still were in the building. Then he lost consciousness.” (Times Herald, Olean NY. “Collapse of Tenement Traps Scores.” 12-12-1946, p. 1.)
Dec 14: “New York (AP) – Haggard rescue workers, counting 37 bodies extricated from the tomb of rubble that marked the site of a six-story upper Manhattan tenement, neared the end of their grim task today in the search for further victims of the tragedy. Officials who had given up hope of finding others alive expressed belief early today that only one more body remained buried under the tons of twisted steel girders and clumps of bricks of the building at 2525 Amsterdam Avenue which housed 23 families.
“The structure was smashed early Thursday morning by a two-foot thick wall of an adjoining ice house which toppled on it after a five-alarm fire.
“The bodies of the 31st and 32nd victims, Peter Sloane, 38, and his daughter, Louisa, 5, were removed from the wreckage early today, several hours after the work of digging was halted briefly, while a Catholic priest climbed atop the rubble heap to give conditional absolution to those still entombed. All five members of the Sloane family perished in the tenement collapse. The bodies of Mrs. Medeline Sloane, 36, and her daughters, Rita, 11, and Judith, 4, were removed previously.
“With all hope gone that any one was still alive, huge cranes and pneumatic drills again were used after the diggers had resorted to bare hands and small tools in an effort to minimize the possibility of another collapse. But despite the noise and dust and activity, a funeral atmosphere clung to the scene of destruction.
“Fire Marshal Thomas P. Brophy reported to Mayor William O’Dwyer that two fires in the ice house Wednesday weakened the plant’s roof beams, causing the roof to cave in and push the wall on to the tenement.
“Two boys, 13 and 10, were held as juvenile delinquents on arson charges in connection with the first blaze. Justice Hubert T. Delany of Children’s Court convicted the boys of juvenile delinquency yesterday in connection with the first blaze, but declared: ‘There is no evidence that was disclosed that the fire they set caused the collapse of the ice house. I don’t want any neighbors or schoolmates to point out these children as the ones who caused the deaths of so many persons. There is no proof that they did.’” (Times-Record, Troy, NY. “Toll of Dead in Tenement Crash Estimated at 38.” 12-14-1946, 1.)
Dec 15: “New York (AP) – Rescue workers whose own lives were in jeopardy while they recovered 37 bodies from the wreckage of a Manhattan tenement that collapsed early Thursday were told late Saturday that their job was finished. W. T. Whelan, deputy chief police inspector, announced no other occupants of the tenement were known to be missing after six bodies had been removed and identified Saturday and that further digging would only risk additional lives.
“The six-story tenement housing 22 families, collapsed after a fire in an adjacent abandoned ice plant had caused a wall to fall, bringing down part of the tenement with it.” (Associated Press. “Tenement Toll Now 37.” Syracuse Herald-American, 12-15-1946, p. 2.)
Dec 16, AP: “New York, Dec. 16. (AP). – Crowds of curious onlookers gathered yesterday at the scene of the collapse of a Manhattan tenement last Thursday while workmen braced the standing remnants of walls. The bodies of the last of the 37 people killed in the crash were removed from the rubble late Saturday.
“Meanwhile, police declared unsafe a tenement adjoining the wreckage and ordered evacuation of the tenants. They said it had possibly been weakened by the impact of falling brick walls against its foundation.
“Many neighbors and friends of the dead attended St. Elizabeth’s church yesterday where special prayers were said at all ten masses. Many of the dead had been communicants at the church.” (Associated Press. “Tenement Toll Now 37.” Syracuse Herald-American, 12-15-1946, p. 2.)
Sources
Associated Press. “Tenement Toll Now 37.” Syracuse Herald-American, 12-15-1946, p. 2. Accessed 5-17-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/syracuse-herald-journal-dec-15-1946-p-2/
Clines, Francis X. “About New York.” New York Times, 9-25-1979, Section B, p. 20. Accessed 11-1-2023 at: https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/25/archives/about-new-york-out-of-death-an-intensity-for-life.html
Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.
Hashagen, Paul. Fire Department City of New York. The Bravest: An Illustrated History 1865 to 2002. Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Co., 2002. Partially Google Digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=ubGf6Z15CiIC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Juillerat, Ernest E. “The Menace of Abandoned Buildings.” Fire Journal, Vol. 59, No. 1. Jan 1965.
National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)
Times Herald, Olean NY. “Collapse of Tenement Traps Scores.” 12-12-1946, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=37716804&sterm=knickerbocker+ice
Times-Record, Troy, NY. “Toll of Dead in Tenement Crash Estimated at 38.” 12-14-1946, 1. At:
http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=40327839&sterm=fire+knickerbockr
Yeshiva University Library, NY. “Yeshiva University Houses Knickerbocker Ice Plant Explosion Survivors, December 1946.” 12-15-2016. Accessed 11-1-2023 at: https://blogs.yu.edu/library/2016/12/15/knickerbocker-ice-plant-explosion/
[1] The headline notes thirty-eight deaths. The article beneath notes thirty-seven bodies had been recovered and it was believed “one more body remained buried under the tons of twisted steel girders and clumps of bricks of the building…”