1970 — Dec 20, Arson Fire, Pioneer International Hotel, Tucson, AZ                            —     29

—  29  Matas. “Year of freedom after 4 decades behind bars…” Arizona Daily Star, 5-11-2014.

—  29  Scheaffer, Jack. “1970: Pioneer Hotel fire.” Arizona Daily Star, Tucson. 1-28-2016.

—  29  Matas / Smith. “Man held 42 years…Pioneer Hotel fire…” Arizona Daily Star, 3-31-2013.

—  28  National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.*

—  28  NFPA. Summary of Fire Incidents 1934-2006 in Hotel Fires in the United States. 2008.

—  28  NFPA. U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates By State.” December 2008, p. 20.

—  28  National Fire Sprinkler Association.  F.Y.I.  1999, 7.

—  28  Roberts (AP). “Police Charge Hotel Fire Deaths…, Yuma Daily Sun, 12-21-1970, p. 1.

—  28  Ward, Neale. “Hotel Fires: Landmarks in Flames…,” Firehouse, March 1978, p. 41.

—  28  Watrous. “28 Die in Pioneer Hotel, Tucson, Arizona.” Fire Journal, 65/3, May 1971, 22.

 

* According to Matas and Smith in Arizona Daily Star, 3-31-2013, “one victim…died months later in a hospital.” This was 29th victim.

 

Narrative Information

 

Watrous/NFPA: “….On December 20, 1970, in Tucson, Arizona, another major fire occurred in another hotel, killing 28 of the occupants. This hotel was a luxurious high-rise down­town hotel. However, it too had open stairways, and it too experienced a fire apparently of incendiary cause. The question now arises: How many more hotels will have to experience a disastrous fire — and how many more people must be killed — before fire protection peo­ple, people who know how to prevent such losses, such as you, take corrective action?

 

“The Pioneer International Hotel is located on the northeast corner of North Stone Avenue and Pennington Street in the heart of the Tucson business district. The 11-story main structure facing North Stone Avenue and a two-story east wing facing Pennington Street were erected in 1929. A two-story section east of the main structure and north of the east wing was constructed about the same time, giving the total building a nearly square ground-floor configuration… At some later date four more stories were added to the two-story cast wing. At the time of the fire the building had three distinct levels — two stories, six stories, and 11 stories….

 

“On the south end of the main structure there was an exterior stairway, partially enclosed by the exterior of the building. It extended from the second floor to the roof and was open to the outside at each floor level. En­trance was gained to this exterior stairway from the main corridor through a fire door. There were also two exterior fire escapes, one at the north end of the main building that extended from the second story to the roof of the 11-story building and one on the rear of the six-story wing that extended from the second story to the roof of the sixth story. The fire escape on the main section was accessible from the main corridor; the es­cape on the six-story wing was accessible only through one guest room on each floor….

 

“The corridors and stairs were covered with a tufted 100 per cent acrylic carpet that extended 22 inches up the walls from the floor. Under the carpet in the corri­dor were two layers of padding. One layer was pri­marily heavy jute and the other was a fibrous material with paper covering….

 

“The building was not equipped with automatic pro­tection of any kind or with a manual evacuation alarm. There were a dry-pipe standpipe in the exterior stair­way and a wet standpipe in about the center of the main structure. There were two hose cabinets on each floor through the sixth and there was one on each floor from the seventh through the eleventh supplied by the wet standpipe. Both standpipes could be supplied by the Fire Department from the outside at street level….

 

“All the upper floors were arranged…primarily for temporary guests. However, there were nine permanent guests at the time of the fire. The hotel had 175 rooms and suites available for rent, and at the time of the fire 113 guests were registered. There were also about 350 people attending a Christmas party in the second-story ballroom.

 

“About 20 minutes after midnight the Fire Department received its first call. The caller said he had heard there was a car fire in front of the Pioneer Hotel. A sec­ond call, received less than a minute later, stated there was a fire on the seventh floor of the hotel. The next call was received from the hotel stating the fire was on the third floor. At 12:22 a fourth caller mentioned the fire and then that he could see fire apparatus responding.

 

“As the apparatus arrived the officer reported smoke showing from the upper floors. People were leaning from windows screaming for help. Before fire fighters could place an aerial ladder one woman jumped to her death.

 

“When the fire fighters entered the building they found heavy smoke in the corridors from the fourth to the top floor. Some fire could be seen coming from win­dows in the upper stories. A combined attack of rescue and fire-fighting was immediately initiated. Aerial lad­ders and ground ladders were placed and replaced, to rescue those who appeared at windows. Hand lines were taken into the building and attached to the dry standpipe at various floor levels. Hose on the wet stand­pipe was also used as the fire fighters progressed up­ward floor by floor, extinguishing the blaze. When res­cue operations had been completed by the aerial at the front of the building, a ladder pipe was set up and di­rected into the eighth- and ninth-story windows….

 

“About an hour after the initial alarm the fire was con­sidered under control, and a search for victims was begun. Carbon monoxide had killed two occupants in the sixth story, two in the seventh, one in the ninth, six in the tenth, and six in the eleventh. Burns killed two occupants on the eighth floor and five on the ninth floor. Three people on the eighth floor and one on the ninth floor died as the result of falls….

 

“When all the information had been gathered the re­ports told a grim story about a fire-resistive building. Twenty-eight occupants had died; 38 occupants and 33 fire fighters had received injuries that required medical attention; and a loss estimated at $1,500,000 had oc­curred. The fire had severely damaged the corridors and stairways from the fourth through the eleventh story, and six rooms had been burned out. Heat and smoke had caused varying amounts of damage in the other rooms.

 

“Investigations by the Fire Department Fire Prevention Division found that two fires had started at two

locations on the fourth floor of the main section, sepa­rated by about 60 feet. Officials believe the fires origi­nated at floor level against the wall, where the floor carpet met the wall carpet. They feel the fires were set sometime before midnight and that they spread rapidly, joining and then spreading up the two open stairways. Lack of sufficient air allowed incomplete combustion to generate large quantities– of fire gases and thick smoke. During the early stages, before the fire had taken con­trol of the upper corridors, very few people were able to make their way to safety by way of the stairs and elevators. The fire quickly cut off the means of egress — the corridors. Very few people became aware of the fire in time, as there was no alarm system. Only those who smelled smoke or heard cries of fire in time were able to escape unaided. Several occupants made bed- sheet ropes to escape from their rooms. Several others shinned down electrical conduit attached to the rear of the building and adjacent to their windows as smoke entered around the doors and filled their rooms. Others threw mattresses to roofs below and jumped, some re­ceiving injuries. Most of the occupants were rescued over Fire Department ladders.

 

“The light panel doors held up fairly well and did not allow a significant amount of fire into the rooms, even though there was severe burning in the corridors. The rooms in which the doors had been opened and left open were completely burned out by superheated fire gases that burned viciously when mixed with the fresh air in the rooms.

 

“Although a solid-core door on the eleventh floor at the top of the stairs withstood the force of the fire, it had not been installed properly. The door was too small for the opening in the tile wall and wood had been in­stalled around it to make it fit. This wood around the door burned off and allowed the fire into a void space in the wall above the door. Heat and smoke filled the rooms behind this door, killing the occupants. The two permanent residents who occupied the area had been living in the building since it opened. It is ironic that they died, because there was a fire escape within several feet of where their bodies were found. Several years ago the window to the fire escape had been cov­ered over with a canvas sheet painted the same color as the wall. A light drape had been hung to cover this part of the wall.

 

“It is very difficult to protect a building from arson fires. However, once the fire is started there should be ways of slowing its progress. Closed fire doors on en­closed stairways would have greatly limited the vertical spread of heat and fire gases. While the fire originated on the fourth floor and spread through all the corridors to the roof, only rooms on the sixth, eighth, and ninth floors were severely damaged by fire. The occupants who died were located on the sixth through the eleventh floor. Enclosed stairways and closed fire doors would probably have held the fire to one floor.

 

“The walls, ceiling, and floors of the corridors were of masonry or plaster construction and, therefore, did not contribute to the fire load. The carpet and the wall cov­ering did, however, and to a degree sufficient to cause the fatalities and the severe damage.

 

“Early-warning detection equipment connected di­rectly to the Fire Department would have brought aid sooner, and there would have been a smaller fire to fight. Automatic sprinklers would have extinguished the two fires before they met in the fourth-story corridor, limiting the loss to fire and water damage….” (Watrous, Laurence D. “28 Die in Pioneer Hotel, Tucson, Arizona.” Nat. Fire Protection Assoc. Fire Journal, Vol. 65, No. 3, May 1971, pp. 21-25 and 27.)

 

Scheaffer/Arizona Daily Star, 2016: “The Pioneer Hotel was Tucson’s first “skyscraper” when it was built in 1929. When it burned shortly before Christmas in 1970, 29 people died.

 

“The fire was determined to be arson and 16-year-old Louis Taylor was arrested and tried for the crime. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

 

“The case made headlines again when Taylor was released recently. He has always proclaimed he is innocent, and now there are many who believe him, though his conviction still stands….” (Scheaffer, Jack. “1970: Pioneer Hotel fire.” Arizona Daily Star, Tucson. 1-28-2016.)

 

Newspapers

 

Dec 21: “TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – Juvenile Court petitions alleging felony homicide and arson were filed today against a 16-year-old youth in a $2.5 million fire which killed 28 persons and injured 27 in a downtown hotel Sunday….

 

“The petition identified him as Louis C. Taylor, four-time parolee from the State Industrial School for Boys. Patrolman Claus Burgman said he arrested Taylor because he “was acting suspiciously and couldn’t explain his presence in the building.” Later, Burgman said Taylor said he was trying to rescue endangered guests. Pima County Superior Court juvenile judge Ben Birdsall, said Taylor “told us a number of different stories about the fire. He said he was at the scene and saw the fire start, but claims he saw another boy do it.”

 

“Several survivors of the flames which raced through the upper half of the 12-story Pioneer International Hotel said they had smelled a volatile substance in the corridors.

 

“The fire in the 41-year-old building broke out on the sixth floor and flared through hallways and staircases, penning about 60 persons in their rooms with no way out except through the windows.

One woman plunged to her death from the seventh floor.

 

“Among the dead were 13 prominent northern Mexico citizens, including two grandchildren of former Sonora Gov. Ignacio Soto, the wife and five children of Francisco Luken, Sonora police chief, and Dr. Jose Jesus Antillon of Hermosillo, one of his country’s top cardiologists.

 

“Harold Steinfeld, 82, builder of the hotel and owner of a department store died with his wife Peggy in their penthouse apartment.

 

“Many of the survivors said they awoke with smoke pouring into their rooms. Dr. Lewis Beck of Rochester, N.Y., said the heat forced him out his sixth floor window and onto a ledge. “I began to think I was going to die,” he said. “I figured a leap would kill me quickly, I wasn’t going to be able to hold on much longer.” Then he saw a Casa Grande, Ariz., physician, William Ford, shoeless and blackened with smoke, inching down a drainpipe. Black joined him and both made it down to safety….

 

“On the ground floor 650 persons attending three Christmas banquets were evacuated safely….

 

“Asst. Fire Chief R. B. Slagel said construction of the building was completed in 1929 and it was not subject to building code safety changes made later.  ‘Today all interior stairways must be totally enclosed – that is, there must be a door between the hallway and the stairway,’ Slagel said. ‘Had this been the case here, the blaze probably would have confined to the original fire. The stairway acted like a chimney and the heat went right on up it and into the hallways.’  Slagel said that, ‘if there had been a sprinkler system, no one would have died.’  However, city fire safety laws do not require such systems.”  (Roberts (AP), Police Charge Hotel Fire Deaths…, Yuma Daily Sun, 12-21-1970, pp. 1-2.)

 

Dec 21: “Tucson (AP) – Here is a list of names of those who died in the Pioneer International Hotel fire, as reported by police. The fire claimed 28 lives.

 

    1. Harold Steinfeld, 82, Tucson.
    2. Mrs. Harold (Peggy) Steinfeld.
    3. Abe Simon, Tucson.
    4. Joseph Rebbe, Chicago.
    5. Mrs. Joseph Rebbe.
    6. Harvey Mallery, Tucson.
    7. Paul d’Hedouville, Washington, D.C.
    8. D. P. Smelser, Tucson.
    9. Mrs. Ella Gordon, Tucson.
    10. Mrs. Ella Bell Glover, Tucson.
    11. Mrs. Estelle Kaufman, Chicago.
    12. Mrs. Velva Dale, Englewood, Colo.
    13. Mrs. Bernice Bond, sister of Mrs. Dale.
    14. Roberto Soto, 14, Hermosillo, Mex., grandson of former Sonora, Mex., Gov. Ignacio Soto.
    15. Ignacio Soto, 10, brother of Roberto.
    16. Dr. Jose Jesus Antillon, Hermosillo.
    17. Mrs. Jose (Ignacia) Antillon, wife of doctor.
    18. Navier Antillon, 9, son.
    19. Martin Antillon, 18, son.
    20. Catalina Antillon, 8, daughter.
    21. Miss Carmaleta Luken, 19, Hermosillo.
    22. Mrs. Francisco (Rosalia) Luken, mother.
    23. Rosa Luken.
    24. Francisco Luken.
    25. Antonio Luken.
    26. Jesus Luken.
    27. Jerome T. Wright, Tucson.
    28. Mrs. Betty Rogers, Springfield, Ill.”

 

(Associated Press. “Pioneer Hotel Fire Victims Listed.” Yuma Daily Sun, 12-21-1970, p. 1.)

 

Sources

 

Associated Press. “Pioneer Hotel Fire Victims Listed.” Yuma Daily Sun, 12-21-1970, p. 1. Accessed 5-25-2015 at:  Accessed 5-23-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/arizona/yuma/yuma-daily-sun/1970/12-21?tag

 

Matas, Kimberly and Kim Smith. “Man held 42 years in deadly Tucson Pioneer Hotel fire to be released.” Arizona Daily Star, 3-31-2013. Accessed 2-25-2020 at: https://tucson.com/news/local/man-held-years-in-deadly-tucson-pioneer-hotel-fire-to/article_984a194e-7c21-53d6-946e-ae1a1a53d303.html

 

Matas, Kimberly. “Year of freedom after 4 decades behind bars difficult for Louis Taylor.” Arizona Daily Star, 5-11-2014. Accessed 2-25-2020 at: https://tucson.com/news/blogs/police-beat/year-of-freedom-after-decades-behind-bars-difficult-for-louis/article_595cb493-574d-5d50-a3de-06e3d1741ce4.html

 

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996, 2010. Accessed at:  http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

 

National Fire Protection Association. Summary of Fire Incidents 1934-2006 in Hotel Fires in the United States as Reported to the NFPA, with Ten or more Fatalities. Quincy, MA: NFPA, One-Stop Data Shop, Fire Analysis and Research Division, January 2008, 4 pages. Accessed at:  http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/Press%20Room/Hotelfirefatalitiesreport.pdf

 

National Fire Protection Association (John Hall, Jr.). U.S. Unintentional Fire Death Rates by State. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 31 pages, December 2008.

 

National Fire Sprinkler Association, Inc. F.Y.I. – Fire Sprinkler Facts. Patterson, NY: NFSA, November 1999, 8 pages. Accessed at: http://www.firemarshals.org/data/File/docs/College%20Dorm/Administrators/F1%20-%20FIRE%20SPRINKLER%20FACTS.pdf

 

Roberts, Bill (AP). “Police Charge Hotel Fire Deaths to 16-Year-Old Boy. At Least 28 Died.” Yuma Daily Sun, AZ, 12-21-1970, pp. 1-2. Accessed 5-23-2015 at: http://newspaperarchive.com/us/arizona/yuma/yuma-daily-sun/1970/12-21?tag

 

Scheaffer, Jack. “1970: Pioneer Hotel fire.” Arizona Daily Star, Tucson. 1-28-2016. Accessed 2-25-2020 at: https://tucson.com/pioneer-hotel-fire/article_b0b75412-c5e8-11e5-846f-b7da6b43a579.html

 

Ward, Neale. “Hotel Fires: Landmarks in Flames, History’s Famous Hotel Fires,” Firehouse, March 1978, pp. 40-45.

 

Watrous, Laurence D. “28 Die in Pioneer Hotel, Tucson, Arizona.” National Fire Protection Association Fire Journal, Vol. 65, No. 3, May 1971, pp. 21-25 and 27.