The day a city died

01/21/2007

The day a city died

By John Quinn

This coming Wednesday will mark the 50th anniversary of the deadliest tragedy in the city’s history, the Franklin Street Fire. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday in St. Michael’s Church on Wooster Place in memory of those firemen who are living in retirement today and those who have passed away since the tragedy. Fire Chief Michael Grant and the Firemen’s Benevolent Association will host a reception in the St. Andrew Society Hall after the service. The following is a reprint of a firsthand story I filed for the New Haven Register 10 years ago on the 40th anniversary of the fire.

Standing in frozen horror

Forty years ago, the sky over New Haven was filled with thick black smoke and the air with the stench of death.

Fifteen persons, mostly women, perished in the worst fire disaster in city history, the Franklin Street dress factory fire.

The Clarion editor was one of the first reporters at the scene on that cold, overcast afternoon shortly before 3 p.m. We stood helplessly in frozen horror as several victims, panicking to flee the deadly inferno, were trapped on a faulty fire escape on the third floor of the dress factory "sweatshop" at 62 Franklin St., known as the Hugo Building.

The screams of those victims, engulfed in flames fanned by a window draft, have lived indelibly in my mind since that day. The tears that welled up in my eyes turned to an icy gloss as the fierce struggle of the victims to escape unfolded.

Some of the women perished and others were badly burned on the fire escape as four heroic men, including three siblings, worked feverishly to rescue them from the living hell and to free a faulty locking device to lower the ladder to the ground.

The four brave civilians were Thomas Dobrowski and the Myjak brothers: Stanley, Frank and Walter.

As this drama was unfolding, every firefighter in the city was busy battling the four-alarm blaze, which started on the first floor and spread rapidly throughout the highly combustible interior of the building.

Just about every off-duty fireman responded to the call and every available ambulance stood by to transport the injured to the two city hospitals.

The Clarion editor, working for another news publication, was alerted to the fire by the initial burst of sirens, and after a quick call to the fire dispatcher, raced on foot down Chapel Street to the scene.

The next several hours were devastating, as was the next day, when a funeral pall prevailed and huge icicles, from the tons of water poured onto the raging inferno, formed eerie patterns hanging from the ruins.

Firemen with axes broke through the debris searching for victims, and a huge crane lifted the frozen body of dress shop owner Morris Baer from its icy grave.

Baer died a hero, helping many of his factory workers to safety as the building burned and the walls collapsed.

Many heroic acts

During the many tense hours, there were many other unheralded acts of heroism performed by the New Haven firemen under the direction of the late chief, Thomas Collins, who after hours in the forefront of the exhausting ordeal had to be sternly ordered to bed by Mayor Richard C. Lee. Three other late fire chiefs, Francis Sweeney, John Reardon and John Smith, were also at the scene.

Ironically, the second-worst fire disaster in the city’s history also occurred on Franklin Street 16 years earlier when 10 persons died as the old New Haven Quilt & Pad Co. went up in flames.

May they all rest in peace!

These were the bravest

So many New Haven firemen risked their lives in getting the blaze under control and in rescuing those poor souls.

There were 358 of New Haven’s bravest on duty the day of the Franklin Street Fire: 282 have passed away and 76 are now retired.

It is with great pride that we print the names of the living heroes today. Many went on to become officers with the New Haven Fire Department. Ranks held at that date are listed with the names here.

The retired firemen to be so remembered at the Mass are Andrew Abatello, Frank Abatello, Pasaquale Apuzzo, Daniel Barletta, Casimir Bednarczyk, Henry Bednarczyk, Lt. Edward Bohan, James Brennan, Alfred Bysiewicz, William Callahan, Eugene Calzetta, Joseph Cappetta, Capt. John Conlon, Peter Coppola, Michael Corsini, Joseph Cretella, James Daniel, Ralph Divert, Nicholas D’Orsi, John McCarthy, John Fitzpatrick, Edward Foley, Richard Foley, Robert Galligan, Robert Gilhuly Sr., William Greenley, Thomas Harmon, Lt. William Hartigan, Joseph Healey, Dennis Heins, Alfred Jessey, Martin King, Daniel Kirby, Edward Lawlor, Lt. Thomas Lydon, Robert Lynch, Matthew Lyons, Lt. Louis Maisano, Raymond Malone, Arthur Maloney, Gordon Mannie, William Marak, Joseph Maturo, Donald McCarthy, George McDermott, Walter McKay, John Meagher, William Meyerholz, Louis Mingione, Frank Mirabella, Leonard O’Brien, Francis O’Connor, Harold Owens and Francis Palmieri.

Also, Arthur Peterson, Frank Pietrosimone, Lt. Edward Poppendick, William Price, Frank Reynolds, Leonard Rizzo, Salvatore Rizzo, Vincent Salerno, George Schmidt, Joseph Serletti, Lt. Oakley Stickle, Capt. Bart Sullivan, Joseph Sullivan, William Sweeney, John Tiedmann, George Urquhart, Peter Vece, Ted Waselewski, Henry Wojtyna, Lt. Fred Yocher anad John Zacks.

All the top echelon who fought the Franklin Street blaze have passed on. They include Chief Thomas Collins, Deputy Chiefs Robert Daly, George Reilly and William Gould. Fire Marshal Eugene Mulligan, Battalion Chief Robert Grey, Howard Paine, Thomas Kennedy, Daniel O’Connell, William Goldbecker, Vincent Curley, Victor Jackson, Francis Lawlor, Adam Schmidt, Joseph Quinn, Michael McDonough, Drillmaster Capt. Francis Sweeney and supervisor of apparatus Edward Miner.

God bless

John Quinn can be reached at jjnequinn@aol.com.