Around 5 p.m. on Thursday, December 16, 1999, a 24-year-old female driver from Sacramento, Schuylkill County, fell asleep while driving her vehicle east on Route 25, a half mile east of Gratz. The vehicle crossed into the westbound land and then went off the roadway, where it rolled and flipped onto its passenger side. The driver sustained minor injuries. A three-month-old infant, two-year-old child, and three-year-old child were passengers in the vehicle. They received treatment at Good Samaratan Regional Medical Center in Pottsville. The vehicle occupants were not wearing seatbelts at the time of the accident, except the infant was wearing a child safety device.
The Great New York Fire of 1835 destroyed the New York Stock Exchange and most of the buildings on the southeast tip of Manhattan around Wall Street on December 16-17, 1835. The fire began in the evening in a five-story warehouse at 25 Merchant Street at the intersection with Pearl Street, probably caused by a burst gas pipe that was ignited by a coal stove. The city was snow covered, with gale-force winds blowing from the northwest towards the East River. With temperatures around -17?F and the East River frozen solid, firefighters had to cut holes in the ice to get water. Water then froze in the hoses and pumps. Attempts to blow up buildings in its path were thwarted by a lack of gunpowder in Manhattan. Firefighters coming to help from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania said they could see signs of the fire from there. Marines arrived with gunpowder from the Brooklyn Navy Yard around 2 a.m. and blew up buildings in the fire's path. By then it covered 50 acres - 17 blocks, destroying between 530 and 700 buildings. The losses were estimated at twenty million dollars. Only two people were killed. Since the fire occurred in the middle of an economic boom caused by the recent opening of the Erie Canal, the destroyed wooden buildings were quickly replaced by larger stone and brick ones that were less prone to widespread major fires. The fire also prompted construction of a new municipal water supply, now known as the Old Croton Aqueduct, and a reform and expansion of the fire service. As a result, this was the last great fire of New York.
1958
Bogota Warehouse Fire Kills 82 - Bogota, Columbia
1960
Mid-Air Collision Over New York City - New York, NY
On a snowy December 16, 1960, morning in New York City, two airplanes collided in mid-air. A United DC-8 from Chicago was heading for Idlewild Airport (now JFK Airport) in southern Queens. At the same time, a TWA Super Constellation from Dayton, Ohio, was heading to LaGuardia Airport in northern Queens. Due to the weather, the United flight was put into a holding pattern. When the pilot miscalculated the location of the pattern, the plane came directly into the path of the TWA flight. They collided and the TWA plane fell onto Miller Field, a military airfield on Staten Island. The United flight, missing its right engine and part of a wing, came down onto the intersection of Seventh Avenue and Sterling Place in Park Slope area of Brooklyn. It narrowly missed St. Augustine?s Academy and hit an apartment building and the Pillar of Fire Church. Dozens of other buildings caught fire in the resulting explosion. Firefighting efforts went on for nearly 72 hours because of the multiple fires. Of the 128 people onboard both planes, only an 11-year-old boy from the United flight survived. He described his experience after being rescued. But he died from his injuries the following afternoon. Six people on the ground died when the plane crashed in Brooklyn, including a 90-year-old caretaker of the church, and two men who were selling Christmas trees nearby.
On December 16, 1994 occurred one of the largest fires in central Pennsylvania. The Logan Valley Mall was reported to be on fire at 2:29 a.m. 59 fire companies were involved from all over central Pennsylvania. An interior and exterior attack was made, with the interior attack being thwarted when sections of the roof started to cave in. Flames were reported to shoot 80 feet into the air. Firefighters contained the blaze, keeping it away from the JC Penney and Sears stores that anchor that one-story section of the mall. Fifteen of the 90 stores and nine kiosks were completely destroyed, along with smoke and water damage to most of the mall.
On December 16, 1999, a beer delivery truck, from My Brothers Beer Barn in Hometown, was being loaded at the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, when its brakes failed. The truck rolled away from the Mahantongo Street dock and ran into the side of the old Yuengling's Ice Cream Factory. There were no injuries.
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The section of calls we've responded to has been compiled from fire company records, newspapers, and other sources. Listings for years prior to 1981 might be incomplete.
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The listing of other noteworthy incidents includes incidents from anywhere outside our local area (for which we were not dispatched). Also included in this section are historical events from our fire company, Lykens, or around the world. It is certainly not a complete listing, and is not intended to be. It is included here for your entertainment. Incidents and events listed here have been gathered from public sources.
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