An early morning fire in the home of Eugene Klinger and his sister, Joyce Klinger, in Wiconisco brought Wiconisco, Lykens, and Williamstown fire companies. The fire started at 4:15AM in the first floor living room. Three people died in the fire and the house was a total loss. The bodies of Eugene Klinger, age 24, his half-brother Larry Walper, age 11, and Robert Klinger, age 15 months, were found on the second floor.
Company-22 was dispatched to 462 North Street for a basement fire. Engine-22 arrived on side-1/4 and pulled a line to the basement. Truck-22 had initially set up on side-1/2, but repositioned to side-2. Engine-23 pulled in behind the Truck-22 and pulled a second line which was never charged. Engine-24 stood by at the hydrant at North Second and Pine Streets, and their crew was utilized as RIT. EMS staged on Pine Street. The house was full of smoke all the way to the attic. The first-in attack crew found the seat of the fire in a corner of the basement and found it was traveling up through several voids to the first floor. The fire was held to the corner of the basement, with heat and smoke up the basement stairway. Probably less than 20 gallons of water was used on the fire. PPV was used to clear the house and further checks for extension were negative.
At the request of Chief 22-1 on scene, Company 22 dispatched class 1 to 553 Main Street in Lykens for a CO Alarm. Truck 22 responded with 4 and Engine 22 responded with 2. The Truck arrived on side A with the Engine behind them. Initial readings with the CO meter showed moderate levels, and ventilation was set up to air out the house. The furnace pipe was removed and a crew laddered the building as well as the bucket sent to the roof to check the chimney, which was found to be clear. After levels dropped to safe levels, the crew was placed available by command.
Truck 22 dispatched class one to 44 South Market Street in Elizabethville at Swab Wagon Company for an automatic fire alarm. Chief 21-2 placed the box in service as a false trip before any response.
Company 22 dispatched class one on the 23-1 box to 204 Wiconisco Street in Wiconisco Township for a reported structure fire. Chief 23 arrived on scene and confirmed that it was a controlled burn and placed the box in service before any response.
Company 22 dispatched class one to the Rattling Creek Apartments at 15 South Second Street in Lykens for an automatic fire alarm. Chief 22-1 who lives across the street responded POV to the scene and Engine 22 went enroute with 3. An update by the Comm center reported that there was now a burn victim and smoke on the second floor. The box was upgraded to a structure fire response adding companies 23, 24, 21 and EMS. Medic 6 arrived on scene and had a victim outside the building and reported that the building was being evacuated. Engine 22 arrived on side D of a 132 foot by 63 foot 4 story multi family housing unit with nothing showing from the exterior and occupants streaming out the side A main entrance and exit. Initial reports were that the smoke was mainly on the second floor. Chief 22-1 located the apartment of origin and a crew from Engine 23 made entry and found that there was a fire in the bathroom of one unit which was now out. Additional personnel from 21 and 24 arrived on scene and brought fans to the second floor where ventilation was started. After clearing the smoke from the second floor and checking all the remaining apartments for any residual smoke the occupants were allowed to return to their rooms and come in out of the -4 degree outside temperature. After re setting the alarm system and confirming that the building was clear command placed the box in service and all companies returned.
Truck 22 dispatched class one to 1067 Creek Road in Hubley Township Schuylkill County for a structure fire. Truck 22 responded with 5 and was canceled while enroute.
Engine 22 dispatched class one as next due Engine on the 24-1 box to 146 East Market Street in Williamstown for an automatic fire alarm. Chief 24-1 placed the box in service prior to response, faulty battery in a detector.
At 8:30 a.m. on January 22, 1953, a Greyhound bus was en route to Sunbury via Route 147. The bus' air brake mechanism caught fire, and the bus stopped just north of Herndon. The Herndon Fire Company responded and used chemicals to extinguish the fire. Two fire companies from Sunbury were called, however they weren't needed. The bus was delayed for about 25 minutes, but was able to continue on its way under its own power.
Fire broke out in a hall closet on the third floor of a three-story brick tenement house at 639 Washington Street, New York City, on January 22, 1881. The fire was caused by hot ashes being thrown into a wooden box in the closet. Who ever discovered the fire, left the closet door open and the flames were allowed to grow and block the hallway. A policeman entered the building and closed the closet door. Then, he kicked down the door of an apartment and carried a woman to safety. The firemen arrived and extinguished the fire. The entire damage to the building and content was not more than $500. While en route to the fire, Engine No. 18 ran into an Eighth-Avenue car at the intersection of Hudson and Christopher Streets. The streets were slippery, and before the driver of the car could stop his horses, the pole of the steamer crashed into the side of the car, damaging the woodwork and breaking the windows. The car was filled with passengers, only one of whom was injured by splinters of glass. The fire engine was not damaged.
One fireman was killed and damage estimated at $250,000 was caused by a fire which occurred on the afternoon of January 22, 1904, in a large building that occupied the entire block bounded by Adams, Pearl, Plymouth, and John Streets, in Brooklyn, New York, occupied by the E. W. Bliss Company for the manufacturing Of torpedoes and projectiles for the United States Government, machinery for the manufacture of sheet metal work, and special machinery of all kinds. The fire was discovered shortly after 4 o'clock. Fifteen-hundred employees in the block were evacuated without injury. The fire was started by a defective electric wire in the office of the company, which occupies the larger portion of the sixth floor. This portion was erected five years before the fire. There was another part which was many years older and only four stories in height. A bucket brigade was organized among the employees who were on the floor at the time, numbering possibly 100. About the same time the fire was discovered from the street and the first alarm sent in. Fanned by a draft coming through a huge shaft which runs through the center of the building from first floor to top, the flames soon got the better of the amateur fire fighters and reached a false ceiling suspended over the sixth floor. They ate their way through this and spread rapidly in the space between it and the roof of the structure. When the firemen arrived they found flames bursting from the windows and shooting up through the roof, and the first alarm was immediately followed by a second. The entire upper portion of the building was then a seething sea of flame. The roof had partly caved in. A third and a fourth alarm was sent in. Above the roof, the flames leaped, like huge, glowing plumes swaying to and fro in the wind. The windows below opened a vista into a furnace with flames of intense whiteness. The fourth alarm brought sixteen engine companies, four hook and ladder companies, one water tower, and several fire patrols. As darkness came the big searchlight engine was sent for from Fire Headquarters. The thick fog and drizzling rain, however, interfered seriously with its usefulness. The fire boats New Yorker and David A. Boody crossed the river and rendered valiant aid. The firemen attacked the fire from four sides, carrying lines of hose to the roofs of the surrounding tall structures and pouring torrents of water into the burning building. They worked two hours before the fire was under control and two hours more before the flames had been completely extinguished. The Arbuckle Sugar Refinery, located directly behind the factory block, and large factories and tenement buildings on the other sides were saved through the heroic work of the firemen. Lieutenant George Gibson, Assistant Foreman of Truck Company No. 68, was with the first truck company on the scene. The fire had already gained considerable headway, and the flames were bursting through several windows on the sixth floor. Lieutenant Gibson was leading a number of his men up a scaling ladder which had been raised against the walls of the factory on the Adams Street side. They were taking fire hose to the roof. Gibson was the first one up the ladder. He had reached the sixth floor when, either from the swaying of the ladder or overcome by smoke, he reeled, dropped the nozzle and fell. Half-way down, he struck one of the prong hooks of the ladder, on which he hung impaled for a moment and then dropped to the street. The hook had split open his left side and pierced his lung. His lifeless body was taken into the office of Buchanan's coal yard across the street. An Ambulance Physician from the Cumberland Street Hospital a few minutes later, pronounced G?bson dead. Four other ambulances arrived on the scene but were not needed, for only two other firemen were hurt, and their injuries were trifling.
Miners in the River Slope Mine of the Knox Coal Company in Port Griffith, Jenkins Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, near Pittston, were tunneling sharply upwards toward the Susquehanna River, when on January 22, 1959, they came within 6 feet of the uderside of the Susquehanna River. This caused the waters of the river to break through into the mine. The opening in the river bed caused the waterin the river to form a large whirlpool before dissapearing down into the mine. The water flooded mines throughout the area and trapped the miners. Twelve miners died. Their bodies were never recovered. It took 3 days to partially plug the hole in the riverbed, which was done by dumping railcars into the whirlpool.
A Royal Jordanian Boeing 707-300 was chartered by Nigeria Airways to take Muslims in Nigeria on a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. There were 198 passengers and 11 crew members on board as the plane approached Kano?s airport on January 22, 1973. A sudden blinding sand storm forced the pilot to abandon the landing and try again. On the second attempt, the landing gear collapsed as the plane hit the runway and the 707 burst into flames. In total, 170 passengers and six crew members lost their lives in the crash. The crash also led indirectly to another death when a local boy was caught stealing from the dead bodies. Relatives of the victims beat the boy to death on the spot.
On January 22, 1975, fire swept through a suburban Manila factory. Fifty-one people were burned, suffocated, or leapt to their death. At least 79 others were seriously injured.
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