1966 — Feb 5-6, Kerosene hot plate/heater explodes, fire, Rooming House, Miami, FL– 10
— 11 NFPA. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).
— 10 National Fire Protection Assoc. “The Major Fires of 1966.” Fire Journal, May 1967, p. 39.
— 10 AP. “Fires Take Heavy Toll Across U.S.” Daily News, Wellington, KS, 2-9-1966, p. 8.
— 10 Miami Times. “Miami’s Worst Fire Kills 7 Children, 3 Men.” 2-11-1966, p. 1.
— 10 News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “Death Toll At 30 in Major Fires.” 2-7-1966, pp. 1, 3.
Narrative Information
NFPA: “In Miami, Florida, on February 6, three adults and seven children died in a rooming-house fire that started at about midnight [our emphasis[1]] when an intoxicated roomer tried to use a kerosene-fueled portable table-top hot plate in his room.[2] The room of fire origin was near the foot of the stairway in the two-story wooden building. Flames quickly swept up the stairway, killing nine persons who were sleeping in the second story as well as the roomer who had started the fire.” (National Fire Protection Association. “The Major Fires of 1966.” Fire Journal, May 1967, p. 39.)
Newspapers
Feb 7: “By the Associated Press….Sunday’s [Feb 6] tragic Negro slum fire in Miami…claimed the lives of 10 – seven of them small children….Fire and police officials blamed the Miami blaze – in a 40-year-old building in the city’s Negro slum area – on a kerosene stove explosion. Four of the dead children were from one family and three from another. The parents escaped.
“‘There was lots of hollering and screaming and people running outside, and it was the screams of the children that got me the most,’ said Vernon L. Ward, a neighborhood resident. “The thing I never can forget is one little girl’s face at the window screaming ‘Momma, save me, momma, save me,'” Ward said.
“Police Sgt. Dennis Watkins said Willie Ross, 61, one of the victims, alone in a downstairs rear room, apparently had been drinking and “fooling around with the kerosene heater.” “We don’t know whether he tipped it over and spilled some kerosene and it then caught fire or whether he just knocked it over and it exploded,” Watkins said.
“The other dead:
Will Mitchell, 60;
- D. Shatton, 35;
Frank Pearson Jr., 6,
his brother Christopher, 5, and two sisters,
Collier, 19 months, and
Sylvia, 4;
John Washington, 6, his brother
Ronnie, 17 months, and his sister
Sheila, 4.”
(News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “Death Toll At 30 in Major Fires.” 2-7-1966, pp. 1, 3.)
Feb 11: “A disastrous fire Saturday night [Feb 5] at 1132 NW First Place resulted in Miami’s worst tragedy of its kind. Seven children and three adults were burned to death.
“The explosion of a kerosene heater was reported to be the cause of the fire. The heroic action of the police who arrived early on the scene, saved the neighborhood from a situation that might have been more horrible.
Funeral services for Johnnie Lee Washington, six; Sheila Washington, three; and Bonnie Washington, seven months – children of Mr. and Mrs. William Washington, tenants of 1132 NW First Place – will be at 3 p.m. Friday….
“Four children of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Pearson were victims of the fire. They were Frank, Jr., six; Christopher, five; Sylvia, three, and Collier, one….
“Funeral arrangements for 60-year-old William Mitchell, another victim, are in charge of the Rahmings Funeral Home.
“The body of W. D. Shattan, 30, is at the House of Albert Funeral Home, and that of Willie Ross, 61, was still at the Dade County Medical examiners’ office at this writing.
“Seventeen persons lived in the nine-bedroom, two bath, one kitchen rooming house, and two visitors were present at the time of the blaze.
“The two-story, 40-year-old building was gutted, and was ordered condemned Monday by Miami Building Department Director R. E. Ferencik….
“The blaze was listed as accidental. Building inspectors said that the building met all city codes.” (Miami Times. “Miami’s Worst Fire Kills 7 Children, 3 Men.” 2-11-1966, p. 1.)
Sources
Associated Press. “Fires Take Heavy Toll Across U.S.” Daily News, Wellington, KS, 2-9-1966, p. 8. Accessed 5-16-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/kansas/wellington/wellington-daily-news/1966/02-09/page-8?tag=kerosene+heater+fire+miami&rtserp=tags/kerosene-heater-fire-miami?ndt=bd&pd=6&pm=2&py=1966&pe=28&pem=2&pey=1966&psb=date
Miami Times. “Miami’s Worst Fire Kills 7 Children, 3 Men.” 2-11-1966, p. 1. Accessed 5-16-2015 at: http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00028321/00402/1x?vo=3
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.)
National Fire Protection Association. “The Major Fires of 1966.” Fire Journal, May 1967, p. 39.
News Tribune, Fort Pierce, FL. “Death Toll At 30 in Major Fires.” 2-7-1966, pp. 1, 3. Accessed 5-16-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/florida/fort-pierce/fort-pierce-news-tribune/1966/02-07/
[1] While this article notes that the fire started at about midnight, the deaths probably occurred shortly after midnight on Feb 6.
[2] According to the text of a photograph in the article “A kerosene-fired hot plate lies in the ashes of a bedroom in a rooming house in Miami, Florida, where ten persons perished in a fire on February 6.