THE  LAST  ALARM

LIEUTENANT JOHN J. GOUGHERTY

CHEMICAL CO. 1

MARCH 12, 1903

At about 04:00 hours, on March 11th, a passer-by saw smoke coming from the doors and windows of the Busch Mattress Co., at 78 Market Street, between Washington and Plane Streets, and turned in the alarm from Box 24, at Market and Washington Streets. The building measured approximately 25-by-100-feet, and was four stories in height. The first floor was occupied by Whittle's Saloon, while the factory used the three upper floors.

Chief Engineer Kiersted and Chemical 1 were the first to arrive at the scene and found a fire involving a rear room of the saloon, which was closed at the time. As the fire appeared to be incipient, Chief Kiersted ordered the chemical line stretched and accompanied Captain Cornelius Smith and Lieutenant John J. Gougherty, both of Chemical 1, into the building as they stretched the line.

After proceeding about 60 feet into the building, they found a fire in an apartment at the rear of the saloon. The room was filled with furniture and various size bottles of assorted liquors. The chemical line was turned on the blaze and Chief Kiersted went back out to the street to direct the laying of additional lines.

The members of Engines 1 and 3 stretched two additional lines into the building, to back up the chemical line, and the crew from Truck 1 entered the building. No sooner had he given the word to wet the two lines, he heard yells, shouts, and screams coming from within the burning structure. His worst fears were quickly realized – a backdraft of some sort had occurred.

When the two lines were opened up on the fire, a large puff of flame and smoke enveloped the ten men that were operating there and knocked them all down. However, the flames and smoke did not rise to the ceiling. Instead, they hugged the floor and began to suffocate the men as they lay on their faces, struggling to breathe. As the fire continued to spread towards the front of the building, a number of liquor bottles broke from the blistering heat, adding further fuel to the fire, causing it to spread across the floor. Some of the men who were still conscious, regained control of their lines, and once again, turned them onto the growing fire.

Captain Smith yelled out, "More water! For God's sake, send in more water or we're all goners!" Fireman Wallroff, of Chemical 1, heard his cries and ran back out to the street to increase the pressure on the chemical line. As he started to re-enter the building, some of the injured men staggered out and advised Chief Kiersted that there were men trapped in the rear room. Kiersted then led ten men, with two more lines, into the blazing building to rescue their trapped comrades.

In the darkness and stifling smoke, they found Captain Smith, Lieutenant Gougherty, Captain Theodore Wolf and Lieutenant Robert H. Park, both of Engine 3, and Firemen William J. Fisher and Joseph McCree, both of Truck 1, crawling around on their hands and knees. They were all gasping for air, but they still clutched their hose lines. They had become disoriented in the blast and couldn't find their way out after becoming entangled in the furniture. Smith, Gougherty and Fisher then collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

As the fire started to gain in intensity, the rescuers hastily carried the unconscious men from the building out to Market Street, where doctors from City Hospital were waiting to treat them. In the mean time, a head count was taken and it was discovered that Lieutenant Park was missing. Kiersted once again led a group of men onto the building to search for Park. As they entered the building, Captain Wolf came running out of the structure with his clothes on fire. A line was turned on him and the fire was extinguished before he was burned.

Shortly after, Kiersted was seen exiting through the smoke carrying Park on his back. He had found him lying face-down and unconscious behind an enclosed portion of the bar. He had apparently became disoriented and crawled in the wrong direction, becoming trapped. Doctors worked heroically and were able to revive all the men at the scene.

Gougherty, 28, the most seriously injured of all, was removed to Saint Michael's Hospital, where doctors feared for his recovery. Park was taken to City Hospital, and the rest of the injured were taken to their homes. Firemen then went to work extinguishing the blaze, which had extended somewhat to the second floor.

The fire was called one of the most stubborn in the history of the department. The exploding liquor bottles made for a very intense fire, and a chemical paint that had been used on the tin ceiling, created a very dense smoke that fell to the floor. Fire losses were set at $4,000, equal to $101,000 in 2009.

During the night, Gougherty's condition worsened, and the two-year veteran died the next day as a result of smoke inhalation and inhalation burns. He was manning the nozzle of the chemical line and was hit head-on when the backdraft occurred, resulting in his inhalation of flame and superheated gases. In addition, he sustained severe burns to his head, face and shoulders. His right hand, with which he was holding the nozzle, was burned nearly to a crisp, and most of his clothes had been burned off.

Gougherty was a member of Engine 11 and had just transferred to Chemical 1 at 10:00 hours the day before the fire. He had not even completed one tour of duty there. The members of Engine 11 begged him to stay, but he said that being at Chemical 1 would allow him to see his mother more often.

At the start of the Spanish-American War in 1898, he enlisted in the Marines. While involved in some of the fiercest battles of the war, including the voluntary capture of a blockhouse, he never suffered a scratch. While bringing a captured Spanish warship home, the ship almost sank in rough seas, but he made it through unscathed.

After he left the Marines, he returned to plumbing, but was not happy in his career. He joined the fire department in October of 1900 and was assigned to Engine 11. At a fire that was thought to be incipient and routine, he lost his life.

Gougherty's widowed mother was at his side when he died in terrible agony at 16:15 hours the next day. Even through his pain, he begged his brother-in-law, Fireman Michael J. Gordon, of Truck 5, not to tell his mother how badly he was burned.

Gougherty's father, Michael, had served in the Civil War aboard the ironclad "Monitor," and had taken part in the historic battle between the Monitor and the Merrimac. After the war, he joined the Newark Volunteer Fire Department and was a member of hand-drawn Engine 10.