1969 — Feb 25, Fire, Rosen Architectural Office, Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, NYC, NY– 11
–11 Barley, S. Fire: An International Report. Brattleboro, VT: Stephen Greene Press, 1973.
–11 National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 139.
–11 NFPA. “The Major Fires of 1969,” Fire Journal, Vol. 64, No. 3, May 1970, p. 39.[1]
Narrative Information
Barley: “….It was probably at 4:20 that a small, flickering flame was noticed immediately above a desk near the closet and the first window facing north. An architect, whose desk it was, usually put down his pipe on an ashtray just where now a seemingly playful little flame ran up the loose roll of tracing paper. Facing that window, on the far side of the street, a gynecologist conducted an examination. He saw some smoke seep through that third floor window…Then he heard faint screams, He looked up once again and saw flames behind that window….He left his patient, ran through some rooms to get the camera… [without calling fire dept.] to get a remarkable sequence of pictures, covering the progress of the fire from window to window.
“In the architect’s office, one employee first tried to beat out the flames with a chshion. He failed. The others who watched him then decided that there was nothing to be done and warned the five people in the boss’s private office. The visitors began to gather up their papers. The employees put their desks in order….Then they all tried to get into the lift.
“The fire department received the first much-delayed alarm call at 4:34, from an onlooker in a building on the other side of the street.
(Chapter Two. “No Call For Action.”
NFPA: “In New York City on February 25 a fire started in the office of an architectural design firm that was located in the third story of a small, five-story fire-resistive office building. The cause of the fire is unknown, but the fire started at a desk and initially involved large sheets of tracing paper hanging on the wall of the office. Two employees unsuccessfully attempted to extinguish the fire.
“As the fire continued to spread, employees picked up their belongings in a leisurely way, put on their outer clothing and started to leave the building. A small hall at one corner of the building served the elevator and an enclosed stairway. The door from the stairway opened into the hall and was the only exit facility–a condition that was permitted in 1910 when the building was constructed. All 15 employees congregated in the hall and started to enter the elevator cab when a flash of fire enveloped them from the open door to the office and caused many of them to panic. Too many attempted to enter the elevator, blocking the sliding door and thus preventing the door from closing and the elevator from operating. When the belatedly called Fire Department arrived, fire fighters climbed the stairs and entered the hall through the door that should have been used as an exit. One body was obstructing the stairway door and another body was obstructing the elevator door. The fire, now feeding on wood panels and furniture, was extinguished within half an hour. Two empty gallon containers of rubber cement were discovered in the office. The adhesive, which contained a flammable solvent, was apparently used in some quantity. Possibly it was the cause of the flash fire that enveloped the office workers. Eleven of the 15 employees perished; the other four were hospitalized.” (NFPA. “The Major Fires of 1969,” Fire Journal, Vol. 64, No. 3, May 1970, p. 39.)
Newspaper
Feb 26: “New York (AP) – A flash fire raced through a midtown Fifth Avenue office building, killing nine persons and leaving seven others critically burned. Most of the victims Tuesday were trapped on the third floor of the five-story building at 48th Street, near Rockefeller Center. Some were jammed in an elevator disabled by the flames and others were piled against a door. ‘They were huddled together but you couldn’t really see them,’ said Fireman William Moore, ‘You could see a hand here and a head there and you grabbed what you cold.’
“Dozens of others scrambled to safety. They ran down smoke-filled stairwells or clambered down aerial ladders while firemen barked orders to prevent panic. Some were carried out by police….
“The blaze broke out shortly after 4:30 p.m., apparently in the third-floor offices of architectural designer David Rosen. Cause was undetermined but Chief John T. O’Hagen said two gallon cans of a flammable liquid were found on the third floor ‘and we have to assume they contributed to it.’
“‘They got it under control very quickly,’ said Mayor John V. Lindsay who went to the scene. ‘But it was so hot and so explosive and the smoke was so dense that people were overcome very quickly.’….
“The dead, eight men and a woman, were identified as:
Kenneth Green, 32,
Patrick Caffero, 40, and
Frank Meilan, 30, of Brooklyn;
Ronald Eisen, age unknown, of Manhattan;
Maurice Rockman, 28, West Paterson, N.J.;
David Carroll, 40, Clifton, N.J.;
Salvatore Caltabiano, 41, Demarest, N.J.;
Gordon Bloedel, 31, Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., and
Arlene Schambaum, age unknown, Mattapan, Mass.
“Rosen, 38, president of the Architectural firm, was at home when the fire broke out. He hurried to the scene after learning of the tragedy. If the fire had struck ’20 minutes later,’ he told newsmen shaking his head, ‘everyone would have been gone.’” (Bob Monroe, Associated Press. “Flash Blaze Claims Nine in New York.” Wellsville Daily Reporter, NY, 2-26-1969, p. 1.)
Feb 26: “New York — Nine persons were killed and at least seven others seriously injured when a flash fire, fueled by a flammable liquid, broke out in an office building on Fifth Avenue and 48th Street. Fire department chief John T. O’Hogan said the cause of the fire was not known and “it will take us days to find out.’” (Oneonta Star, NY. “Flash fire kills nine.” 2-26-1969, p. 1.)
Feb 26: “The Fifth Avenue, Manhattan fire that killed at least nine people and injured seven, reportedly broke out in the third floor offices of David Rosen Associates, Newburgh’s first planning consultant.
“An employe of the Rosen firm, Kenneth Greene, 32, of 36 Monroe Place, Brooklyn, was killed in the fire….
“Rosen’s firm prepared the city’s first urban renewal plan, ultimately scrapped by the local urban renewal agency. Rosen was first hired in 1964 shortly after the election of Democratic Mayor Joseph X. Mullin. Mullin, as a campaign promise, vowed to revitalize the city’s urban renewal area in the East End, and the retention of Rosen was supposed to be the first step in that direction. Rosen first conducted a feasibility study of the original 100-acre UR area, which was finally accepted by a split 3-2 council vote. He then prepared a UR plan, but it was never totally accepted by the URA.” (Times Herald Record, Middletown, NY. “Planner aide dies in flames.” 2-26-1969, p. 10.)
Feb 26: “Nine persons were killed Tuesday by a flash fire that roared through a Fifth Avenue office building, the Fire Department said. Several other persons were hospitalized. The fire was triggered by the ignition of two cans of draftsmen’s adhesive in the third-floor office of architectural designer David Rosen….If the fire had struck ’20 minutes later everyone would have been gone’ he told reporters after visiting the morgue where he said he identified ‘about four or five of the dead’ as his employees. “The fire was reported shortly after 4:30 p.m., just before normal quitting time….Official death figures had varied between six and 13 in the immediate aftermath of the three-alarm fire. Some of the injured were in serious condition with third-degree burns….
“Deputy Asst. Fire Chief Lester Snyder said workers in the office of David Rosen Associates, architectural designers, apparently weren’t too alarmed with the adhesive, probably rubber cement, first flamed up. They pushed the elevator button, but when the car arrived flame burst forth and rendered the elevator inoperative, Snyder said. Several persons were trapped inside the elevator and others in front of it. Chief of Department John T. O’Hagan said the fire spread rapidly because ‘the whole floor was wooden panels.’
“….a secretary, said she was looking out the window of an office across Fifth Avenue when the fire started. ‘I saw a man blown from his seat and then the screaming began,’ she said. ‘I heard people begin screaming, ‘Help, help, get us out of here’.’ She said people couldn’t use the fire exits because of the heavy smoke, and she watched firemen help or carry at least 25 persons from the burning building.” (Troy Record (NY). “Fire Kills 9 in New York City,” Feb 26, 1969.)
Feb 27: “New York (UPI)….Seven…victims…gravely injured in the flash fire…remained so critical that fire department investigators were not permitted to talk to them….Two things are known about the blaze, which is believed to have started in an architectural firm: The fire was fueled by some highly flammable substance, and there was panic at the exits from the third floor.” (United Press International. “Fire Cause Unknown,” Times Herald Record, Middletown, NY, 2-27-1969, p. 2.)
March 1: “New York (UPI) – The widow of one of the 10 victims of Tuesday’s Fifth Avenue fire filed suit Thursday for $1.3 million, charging operators of the burned building with permitting dangerous conditions on the premises. Attorney Harry H. Lipsig filed suit in Manhattan Federal Court on behalf of Mrs. Sylvia Carol and her two daughters in connection with the death of her husband, David Carol, 41, a consulting engineer. Mrs. Carol, 36, Eileen, 12, and Jayne, 8, live in Clifton, N.J.
“The suit claimed that Herman Ackman and others doing business under the firm name of Acruem Associates “created a trap” in the building at Fifth Avenue and 48th Street by permitting others to store dangerous and inflammable substances there.” (UPI. “Widow sues.” Times Herald Record, 3-1-1969, p. 37.)
Sources
Monroe, Bob (Associated Press). “Flash Blaze Claims Nine in New York.” Wellsville Daily Reporter, NY, 2-26-1969, p. 1. Accessed 5-22-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/wellsville/wellsville-daily-reporter/1969/02-26?tag
National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 1983.
National Fire Protection Association. “The Major Fires of 1969,” Fire Journal, Vol. 64, No. 3, May 1970, pp. 37-40.
Oneonta Star, NY. “Flash fire kills nine.” 2-26-1969, p. 1. Accessed 5-22-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/oneonta/oneonta-star/1969/02-26?tag
Times Herald Record, Middletown, NY. “Planner aide dies in flames.” 2-26-1969, p. 10. Accessed 5-22-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/middletown/middletown-times-herald-record/1969/02-26/page-14?tag
Troy Record, NY. “Fire Kills 9 in New York City.” 2-26-1969. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=88235105
United Press International. “Fire Cause Unknown,” Times Herald Record, Middletown, NY, 2-27-1969, p. 2. Accessed 5-22-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/middletown/middletown-times-herald-record/1969/02-27/page-2?tag
United Press International. “Widow sues.” Times Herald Record, Middletown, PA, 3-1-1969, p. 37. Accessed 9-22-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/middletown-times-herald-record-mar-01-1969-p-39/?tag
[1] Have verified ten deaths using other sources. Assume one of the critically burned victims died after March 1.