Historic 5-11 Alarm fire with multiple LODD in Chicago, 2-7-68

This from Steve Redick:

Another famous and tragic incident. A gasoline tanker leaked and caught fire in the alley at 801 W. 49th Place, Mickelberry Food Products, resulting in a tremendous explosion killing four members and several civilians. My dad was on SS3 and responded. He told me of wading through waist deep water, covered in gasoline in the basement, shutting off utilities as ordered. He often said they were lucky no one was hurt during this operation and they never should have been down there in the first place. This was well after the explosion. They didn’t arrive until later in the fire. The audio can be heard HERE.
Steve

Mickelberry Food Products fire in Chicago February 7 1968

Warren Redick collection

Tags: CAPTAIN JOHN J. FISCHER (BADGE # 1268) OF TRUCK CO. 18 BUILDING EXPLOSION 50TH & HALSTED MICKELBERRY FIRE, Chicago FD Captain John Fischer, Chicago Fire Department history, Chicago Firefighter Charles Bottger, Chicago Firefighter Edward Leifker, Chicago Firefighter Thomas Collins, FIREMAN CHARLES D. BOTTGER (BADGE # 163) OF TRUCK CO. 18 BUILDING EXPLOSION 50TH & HALSTED MICKELBERRY FIRE, FIREMAN EDWARD LEIFKER (BADGE # 1350) OF TRUCK CO. 18 BUILDING EXPLOSION 50TH & HALSTED MICKELBERRY FIRE, Mickelberry Food Products fire in Chicago 1968, Mickelberry Sausage Factory fire

This entry was posted on February 10, 2016, 2:00 PM and is filed under Fire Department History, Historic FD radio trafic, Historic Fire Photo, LODD. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

11 Comments

#1 by David on February 17, 2016 - 2:10 AM

Mike thanks a lot anyway! Have heard about that (CFD being slow with the masks), I know they didn’t have a proper SCBA program until about late 70s/early 80s or so. Mike again, thanks for all the historical details, always enjoy reading about this.
#2 by mike mc on February 16, 2016 - 3:57 PM

Dave: I’m afaid I’ve exhausted my knowledge. You will probably find that for most of it’s history, the CFD was usually well behind other departments, especially New York and L.A., when it came to breathing apparatus. As late as the early 1950’s, Fire Commissioner Corrigan was quoted as saying that the department does not need air masks, just more FFs so they can take turns on the hose.
#3 by David on February 16, 2016 - 11:34 AM

Mike thanks a lot for this info, never heard about this before. I guess it’s the same as nowadays when the guys purchase a lot of the stuff on their own, for example not long ago I’ve seen in one video a CFD member using what I believe was a Gerber tactical tomahawk to break a window at a 2-11.
BTW: I’m looking for some info on the early CFD masks from the late 19th/early 20th century, Mike don’t you know anything closer about this, what types did they use back then? I know they purchased a batch of Draeger masks in 1912, but couldn’t find much more about this so far.
#4 by mike mc on February 16, 2016 - 11:17 AM

David; The photo that I referred to of Otto Popiscil is also displayed in the fire museum, at the apparatus door.
#5 by mike mc on February 16, 2016 - 9:15 AM

They had a very small cannister with maybe 4 minutes worth of air and a mask that covered the face and nose. No shield for the eyes. Air Force crews would use them to travel from one section of a non-pressurized aircraft, where they would have to unhook from the internal air system, to another section of the aircraft where they could hook up again. They sometimes show up in old Air Force movies from the 1950’s and 12 O’Clock High reruns.

They were never officially sanctioned by the department but their use was wide spread. I assume the guys purchased them at army surplus stores, I really don’t know.
#6 by David on February 13, 2016 - 5:40 PM

Mike Mc: Thanks a lot for all the details! Never knew the Snkl Squad guys used the bottles as soon as in the 60s. Also what exactly were the “cheater masks” you write about? I know they’ve got an Air Force facepiece attached to a canister mask displayed at the CFD Fire museum, but I guess you’re talking about something different.
#7 by mike mc on February 12, 2016 - 9:32 PM

David: The 3 snorkel squads had Mine Safety Appliance air masks/bottles. The other squads (salvage squads in 1968) and most truck companies had cannister masks the members could use. I’m pretty sure they had the cannister masks, probably all World War II Navy surplus, since the early 1950’s, if not the late 1940’s.

Of course, some Snorkel Squad members did prefer to use the cannister masks until about the early 1970’s when they were finally convinced of the benefits of a true SCBA. There is a famous photo of Otto Popiscil making a rescue of a child with a cannister mask in the mid 1960’s. Still others, (Bob Donati and Don Sutherland to name a few) continued to prefer no mask at all.

There were also Air Force surplus “cheater masks” that were popular. A lot of the “leather lung” guys had cheater masks in their firecoat pockets. Some would openly use them and others would sneak a few breaths when no one was looking. Hence the term ‘cheater mask”.
#8 by David on February 12, 2016 - 3:59 AM

I guess the guy with the canister mask may be a Snkl Squad or Squad member, not sure if the truckies carried these masks back then?!
#9 by mike mc on February 11, 2016 - 3:00 PM

Thanks for the posting Steve. There is a long standing rumor that Truck 18’s aerial did not work and the company was on the roof, after taking the stairs, with a couple of civilians waiting for another truck to raise an aerial when the explosion occurred. The photos do show a FWD tiller in front of the buidling without the ladder raised. An inoperable main aerial would not have been that unusual back then.
#10 by Chris on February 11, 2016 - 1:24 PM

I see one member carrying a filter canister gas mask.
#11 by John on February 10, 2016 - 8:09 PM

I don’t think they would show pics of dead bodies today.