CFD Line of Duty Deaths
January 28, 1961 - Chicago Hubbard Street Warehouse Fire. 9 Firefighters killed.
On January 28, 1961, nine Chicago firefighters died in the line of duty battling a warehouse fire at 614 Hubbard Street. The fire started in the upper floors of the seven-story warehouse, which was located in a railroad yard and heavy industry area. The warehouse stored bakery supplies for the Hilker and Bletsch Company and frozen foods for the P and P Blueberry Packing Company. Immediately adjacent to the warehouse was a two-story building containing one-gallon tin containers for packaging and storing food.
The warehouse fire burned for some time before it was noticed by nearby railroad workers. By the time the fire department was contacted, receiving the first alarm at 6:23 AM, flames were already bursting through windows in the warehouse. Within twenty minutes, the alarm was raised to a 5-11, followed by a special alarm. The additional alarms brought in 316 firefighters, 67 pieces of apparatus and equipment, four ambulances, and three rescue squads. Nearby fireboats also responded to the incident to pump water from the Chicago River.
Battalion Chief George Kuhn led several firefighters onto the roof of the adjacent two-story building in an attempt to run a hose into the burning warehouse. Without warning, the adjoining warehouse wall suddenly collapsed onto the smaller building, burying Kuhn and his team in the debris. Firefighters raced to dig their comrades out of the rubble and, as they were pulling injured firefighters out of the wreckage, the roof of the smaller building collapsed, trapping both the initial victims and a number of rescuers.
With flames still blazing over their heads and even more firefighters now trapped, rescuers used portable chainsaws to cut through the wreckage and shored up the debris in an attempt to dig a ten foot shaft to the trapped victims. The weather, with temperatures hovering just over zero degrees, also wreaked havoc on the fire department’s response efforts. Because of the water used in the firefighting operations, the area surrounding the warehouse was quickly covered in water and ice and equipment was frozen in place.
The flames were eventually extinguished later in the day, but the ruins continued to smolder for several days. After hours of digging, firefighters were able to recover the remains of all of their fallen comrades. In the end, nine firefighters were killed and fifteen firefighters were injured. Fire Marshal Meighan later commented he had never seen a fire like it and called it “a total mass of flames” from the first to seventh floor.
Fallen Brothers:
Battalion Chief George Rees
Battalion Chief George Kuhn
Fire Lieutenant Charles Rauch - Engine Co. 114
Fire Lieutenant Louis Repkin - Truck 19
Firefighter Hillard Augustine - Squad 10
Firefighter William Hillistad - Engine Co. 44
Firefighter Stanley Sliwinski - Engine Co. 26
Firefighter Ciro Zuccarello - Engine Co. 26
Firefighter Robert Burns
