Newark's Multiple Alarm Fires Of 1896

March 14
At 18:57 hours, an alarm was received from Box 17, located in front of the Park House Hotel, on Park Place. Fire had involved three frame buildings at 18-20-22 Commerce Street, between Broad and Mulberry Streets, which were located in the center of a row of attached, brick commercial buildings. Fearing the flames would extend into the densely congested commercial area, a second alarm was struck.

March 22
At 00:42 hours, an alarm was received from Box 641, at 16th Avenue and South 8th Street. The fire became a general-alarm as it rapidly spread throughout a box factory and seven houses.

June 9
At 20:01 hours, an alarm was received from Box 521, which was located in Harrison’s Factory, at 18-42 New York Avenue, between New Jersey Railroad Avenue and McWhorter Street. The Harrison concern was a complex of brick and frame structures that fronted over 400 feet along New York Avenue. The fire went to two alarms.

September 30
At 03:49 hours, an alarm was received from Box 38, at Clinton and Mulberry Streets, for a fire involving a brick commercial building at 252 Market Street, between Mulberry and Lawrence Streets. The building being attached on both sides, in the middle of a densely-packed commercial area necessitated a second-alarm being struck to keep the fire from spreading.

October 31
At 15:20 hours, Box 732 was pulled for a small brush fire in a rear yard at Berkeley Avenue and North 7th Street. Somehow or other, the signals to Fire Alarm got crossed resulting in a second alarm being transmitted for the box. Firefighters at the scene were shocked to see the additional assignment roll into the box. Needless to say, everyone was ordered to take up as they arrived, as the fire was quickly taken care of by the first-due unit.

December 24
About 75 employees were at work in the afternoon at the three-story frame Alexander Traudt factory, at 30-32 Main Street, between Ferry and George Streets. An employee stepped on a match that someone had dropped on the first floor, causing it to ignite. The oil-soaked flooring immediately caught fire and spread to a storage of benzine and other flammable oils.

In an instant, flames engulfed the entire room and began spreading to other parts of the 50-by-100-foot building. Employees fled for their lives, including those who were working in the office putting the payroll together. All of them made it to safety, but about $800 ($20,377) in cash was left lying on the table.

Either someone ran to the quarters of Engine 8 two blocks away to report the fire, or the firefighters saw the fire, and at 16:05 hours, Box 8 was transmitted from their quarters.

Arriving in only a short time, firefighters found the building heavily involved in fire. The office personnel told the members of Engine 8 where the money was, and under the protection of a hose stream, one firefighter entered the office to retrieve the cash. Some of the money was scorched, but it was all okay and later paid out to the employees.

A second-alarm was struck when it appeared the fire would spread throughout the neighborhood, but hard work held the flames in check.

Traudt’s factory building, which was owned by Mrs. Anna S. Heller, was destroyed, at a loss of $11,000 ($280,191).

Later in the evening, the Budish & Yudizsky hat factory was destroyed, and adjacent properties were slightly damaged. Losses there were placed at $8,000 ($203,775).

December 29
Newark’s electricity was furnished by the People’s Electric Light & Power Co., which occupied a building on the City Dock, on River Street, at the Passaic River. Thirty-seven dynamos supplied the city with power, and were located in two rooms; the regular dynamo room and the reserve room.

As Leo Gamp, foreman of the regular dynamo room, sat at the switchboard, a sheet of flame entered the building from outside and passed over Gamp’s hands, burning him severely. In a flash, every wire in the plant was on fire and racing toward the shut-offs, igniting everything in their path.

At 16:53 hours, an alarm was turned in from Box 321, at Railroad Place (New Jersey Railroad Avenue) and River Street, bringing Newark’s Bravest to the scene. In the short time it took firefighters to reach the scene, the plant was a mass of flames, with the fire beginning to threaten the adjoining T.J. Preston Oil Company.

A second alarm was struck immediately, bringing the entire department to the scene. Firefighters were successful in their effort to halt the spread of the flames, but the power plant was a total loss.

At the height of the fire, thousands of spectators had filled every street, alley, bridge, and railroad siding to watch the blaze. Police Reserves from the First and Third Precincts had to be brought to the scene to control the crowds. As the fire threatened to spread to a nearby boiler room, which had been kept at a full head of steam to work the plant fire pump, the engineers could no longer stand the heat and opened the relief valves and drew the fires. The sudden rush and roar of the escaping steam caused spectators to believe the boilers were about to explode, and a wave of panic went through the crowd. In the rush to get to safety, many people fell or were pushed over, suffering cuts, bruises, and muddied clothes, but there was no serious damage done.

It took firefighters 90 minutes to bring the blaze under control. All 37 dynamos, valued at between $2,500 ($63,680) and $7,500 ($191,040) each, were destroyed, plunging the entire city into darkness. Along with Newark, the power in South Orange, Vailsburgh, Irvington, Bloomfield, and Harrison was lost, but the next day, these towns were switched over to the big plant in Orange and their power was restored.

Even as the fire was being fought, Philip N. Jackson, the President of People’s Electric, was on the telegraph to suppliers all over the country, resulting in special trains speeding toward Newark, having priority over all others, with new machinery. Jackson estimated that by New Year’s Eve, they would have the city back to normal.

He also stated that there was something peculiar about the fire. He believed there were circumstances which leveled suspicion at its cause. He related about how six or seven years earlier the company had trouble with some of its employees, and for a time afterward, the men who were electricians repeatedly cut the wires. Attempts were also made to destroy the plant. He seemed to think that someone had an understanding how to do it. He could not understand how a fire in an open-frame switchboard could envelop the entire plant in less than five minutes.

Losses were placed at $175,000 ($4.33 million).