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- Jun 27, 2007
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July 10th is a black day in the history of the Chicago Fire Department. On that date in 1893 13 firefighters lost their lives while fighting a fire in a wooden building at the Chicago's World Fair. This building whose construction was ill-conceived at best, it was a cold storage warehouse whose design all but guaranteed disaster. In fact the insurance company cancelled the policy on it The second incident was in 1943 at a fire on Superior Street over 2 days. The initial fire was on the second floor of the building, an additional alarm was called and the fire was soon extinguished. The next night a fire was discovered on the 4th floor and again an interior attack commenced when Commissioner White noticed the poor condition of the building and ordered an evacuation. But it was too late and many members ended up buried in the basement under timbers and bricks. 10 members had answered their last alarm. You can find a more detailed explanation of both incidents on the facebook page: "3-3-5 Chicago Firefighters".
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