Great Baltimore Fire of 1904
In 1904 Baltimore was ravaged by one of the worst urban fires in American history. Baltimore was a port city, with expansive rail yards and a large, densely populated urban core. Residential buildings, warehouses, and retail establishments stood side by side on narrow streets. One such building was the John Hurst and Company dry goods store. Its basement, used for storage, drew light largely from skylights at street level.
When a burning cigar or one of the newly popular cigarettes was casually disposed of by a passerby on the street on the morning of February 7, 1904, it fell through one of these skylights and started a fire in the Hurst basement. Shortly before 11 AM the building, packed with flammable materials, exploded and ignited neighboring buildings. Baltimore’s fire department realized it couldn’t handle the fire alone and the call went out for help.
Firefighters from Virginia, Philadelphia, Washington, New York, and other communities raced to Baltimore by train, bringing with them equipment from their departments. Their arrival on the rapidly spreading scene revealed a weakness of the firefighting profession. There was no standardization of equipment. Hose couplings varied by community, hose sizes differed, and many hydrants could not be used.
More than 1,200 firemen arrived to fight the fire only to find there was little they could do. Not until late afternoon of the following day was the fire brought under control, largely by its reaching the harbor and finding little else to burn. More than 1,500 buildings were destroyed by the fire covering an area of 140 acres. 35,000 people were left out of work by the fire, their places of employment destroyed.
The fire led to the adoption of national standards for fire equipment. The National Bureau of Standards specified the following year that all fire hydrants be equipped with 2.5-inch hose connections, with matching couplings for all fire hoses. Matching standards were established for pumper engines at the same time. Today they are still in use, referred to as the Baltimore Standard.