FDNY Line of Duty Deaths
November 12, 1892 - LODD
Fireman Wayland A. Estes, 32 - Engine 4
Fireman John F. Spaulding - Engine 4
FDNY. Brooklyn, New York
FF Spaulding
Firemen John F. Spaulding and Wayland A. Estes of Engine 4 (now engine 204) were operating at the Harbeck's store warehouse. The fire started sometime Friday night but was not discovered until Saturday morning. The roof collapsed earlier during the fire to the fifth floor and the fire was thought to be under control. Members of Engine 4 were operating a charged hand line on top of some piles of jute on the fifth floor when without warning the fifth floor collapsed into the fourth floor. Spaulding and Estes along with several other members were buried in the debris. Heavy smoke prevented the rescue of Spaulding and Estes. Both bodies were not recovered until late Sunday afternoon. Spaulding was twenty-nine years old and not married. Estes was thirty-nine years old, married with two children. Fireman Spaulding is buried, along with three of his colleagues in the Brooklyn Fire Department plot in Holy Cross Cemetery.
Firemen Estes and Spaulding were killed when they were caught in a floor collapse while operating at the Harbeck stores warehouse fire.
RIP. Never forget.
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