PATERSON FIRE HISTORY
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    • 1889-1919 DEATHS
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    • 2000-2009 DEATHS
    • 2010 AND LATER
  • NOTABLE FIREFIGHTERS
    • CALAMITA FAMILY
    • CAPTAIN JOHN WEBER
    • CUSACK FAMILY
    • FLEMING FAMILY
    • GERARD DUGAN
    • HANCOCK FAMILY
    • HENRY OTIS HARRIS
    • ISAAC FELICIANO
    • JOHN GILMORE
    • JOSEPH DAYSPRING
    • KEARNEY-FAMILY
    • MARIANI FAMILY
    • McLAUGHLIN FAMILY
    • SALMANOWITZ BROTHERS
    • THE SIMONTONS
    • THE SWEENEYS
  • NOTABLE FIRES/INCIDENTS
  • SPECIAL OP EVENTS
  • TAKING THE HEAT BOOK
  • HISTORICAL REVIEWS
  • 1907 GUARDIAN
  • 1936 HEARD & SEEN COLUMN
  • FIREHOUSE PHOTOS / FACTS
  • SPECIAL OPERATIONS
  • EMS
    • EMS ROSTER
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  • NOTABLE EVENTS INDEX
    • PFD STORIES
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    • APPTS & PROMOTIONS
    • AWARDS
    • 1960 CHIEF SELECTION
    • GRAND STREET RIOT 1917
    • GROUND ZERO
    • MILITARY
    • PARADES PAID DEPT
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    • RETIREMENTS
    • SISTER LORETTA
    • SPORTS
    • THEATRE DETAIL
  • MEMORABILIA
  • PATCHES DECALS LOGOS SHIRTS
  • WALLPAPER
  • DEPARTMENT PETS
  • TRAINING
  • VOLUNTEER DEPARTMENT
    • 1821 - 1854 HISTORY
    • 1815-1890 VOLUNTEER HISTORY
    • 1888 HISTORICAL SUMMARY
    • LOOKING BACKWARDS
    • VOLUNTEER PARADES
    • ANNUAL REPORTS
    • VOLUNTEER CHIEFS >
      • CHIEF ELECTIONS
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    • ANDREW MOSER
    • ENGINE CO APPARATUS LIST
    • OLD GOOSENECK
    • JEFFERS STEAMER
    • VOLUNTEER COMPANIES
  • AUXILIARY FIRE DEPARTMENT
  • EXEMPT ASSOCIATION
    • EXEMPT 1892 BALL
    • EXEMPT BY-LAWS 1902
  • EXEMPT HOME & RELICS
  • FMBA / PFA
    • FMBA BY-LAWS
    • FMBA 1949 FOLLIES
  • BALLBOOKS
    • 1909 BALL BOOK
    • 1916 BALL BOOK
    • 1918 BALL BOOK
    • 1921 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1923 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1928 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1935 PFD BOOSTER
    • 1936 JANUARY PICTORIAL
    • 1936 DECEMBER PICTORIAL
    • 1937 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1938 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1939 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1941 ANNUAL BALL
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    • 1967 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1968 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1969 ANNUAL BALL
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    • 1971 ANNUAL BALL
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  • CITY OF PATERSON
December 10, 1968:     Station 141   10:58 PM     2 Park Avenue   General Alarm    ​
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Midtown Hotel Fire

8 KILLED IN PATERSON BLAZE;
​POLICE ARREST ARSON SUSPECT

On Dec. 10, 1968, an arson blaze swept the Midtown Hotel in downtown Paterson, killing six people.  Deputy Fire Chief Solomon Reines said there had been a "neighborhood vendetta" against occupants of the hotel, scene of an earlier fire. Box 141 was transmitted at 10:58 p.m. and went to a general alarm in freezing cold. About 20 people lived in the hotel, many of them elderly transients, according to an AP dispatch. Rooms were located on the second story of a row of shops at 2 Park Ave. Police Sergeant Stanley Nessen said he convinced about 10 people not to jump from the ledge and they were rescued by firefighters. Police arrested a suspect Dec. 13 and filed six counts of homicide as well as arson. They sought four other suspects in the case.
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Truck 3 ALF Snorkel
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December 11 Morning Call courtesy Dennis Morrison

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Truck 3 Snorkel
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NY Times Story: ​ At least eight persons were killed, 20 injured and 100 left homeless here early this morning in a tenement fire

A 37-year-old man who lives a block from the burned-out building was arrested and charged with eight counts of homicide and one count of aggravated arson. The fire in the 16-family building at 89 Park Avenue erupted about 3 A.M., and many of the victims were trapped in their apartments as they slept. Six bodies, apparently all from the same family, were found in a third-floor apartment. Two other victims were found in apartments on the fourth floor, fire officials said.
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1953 Seagrave pumper
Dozens of residents, many in their nightclothes, escaped by clambering down fire escapes. Others tossed their children to bystanders and then jumped from second-and third-story windows. Families in an adjacent building were forced to flee when flames jumped across a small alley and ignited the upper floors of that building. A total of more than 100 were left homeless. Officials said the death toll would not be certain until the building at 89 Park was demolished and the debris examined. They said there was no way of knowing how many people lived in the four-story, red-brick building, whose interior this afternoon was a mass of charred timbers and furniture. William J. Comer, an assistant fire chief, said the death toll was the worst he had experienced in his 36 years with the department. The suspect, Leonides Garcia, was being held last night in $100,000 bond at the Passaic County Jail, according to Capt. Joseph A. Rafferty fo the Paterson polic. Lovers' Quarrel Cited Witnesses told the police the fire was a result of a lovers' quarrel that had taken place Tuesday. They said they saw a man, who is known in the neighborhood, pour gasoline outside the first-floor apartment of Mercedes Lozano and her five children. Moments later the building was a mass of flames. Mrs. Lozano and her children escaped serious injury. Mrs. Lozano's brother, Juan Antonio Santiago, who was staying in her apartment, said, "I was watching the late show and saw liquid coming in under the door to the apartment. "I yelled for my sister to wake up, and I grabbed two of the kids. By the time we got ready, the place was full of flames." Another witness, Dell Lee Carter, who lives nearby, said she was awakened by children yelling. "I went to the window and saw the man throw something at the apartment window," she said. "Then everything was covered with flames. The man ran toward where I was, and I later pointed him out to the police."
Officials said many of the victims had no chance of escaping because of the speed with which the fire engulfed the building.
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Truck 2 - T Giaquinto Collection
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Truck 2 - (note how riot roof spllt open to raise aerial T Giaquinto Collection
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Firefighter William Filipelli

"I was with one of the first companies to arrive," said Fireman William Filipelli. "When we got here the whole building was a wall of flames. The first companies didn't have a chance to put a hose on the fire. People were hanging out windows and jumping. We brought out ladders and got out as many as we could." A Family Rescued By some miracle, he said, a family in a second-floor apartment in the front of the building was able to summon help and escape about 20 minutes after the fire started. "One of the occupants inside threw something through the window and it landed on a car," the fireman said. 
"We looked up and saw a silhouette in the window. One of the men went up and got the father and the mother out, then he went into the apartment and got two kids out." ​
Many of the injured, including three firemen, were taken to nearby hospitals. Eight of the victims were in intensive-care units. One victim, who was suffering from severe burns, was in critical condition at the St. Barnabas Medical Center burn unit in Livingston. The fire, which was brought under control at 5:15 A.M., was the third major fire in this industrial city within a four-hour period. Earlier, a fire that was declared suspicious seriously damaged four apartment houses and left about 40 people homeless. 
​​
Following photos are from Thom Cronin
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Hancock Collection
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Hancock Collection

April 1969 Issue of Inside Detective Magazine
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  • HOME
  • OVERVIEW
    • FIRST CENTURY
    • EVENTS 1890-1894
    • EVENTS 1895-1899
    • EVENTS 1900-1910
    • EVENTS 1911-1919
    • EVENTS 1920-1939
    • EVENTS 1940-1959
    • EVENTS 1960-1979
    • EVENTS 1980-1999
    • EVENTS 2000-2019
    • EVENTS 2020-2023
  • FIREFIGHTERS
  • CHIEF ENGINEERS
    • ASSISTANT CHIEFS
    • DEPUTY CHIEFS
    • BATTALION CHIEFS
    • CHIEF GIGS
  • THE SUPREME SACRIFICE
    • MEMORIAL SERVICE
  • OBITUARIES / DEATHS
    • 1889-1919 DEATHS
    • 1920-1939 DEATHS
    • 1940-1959 DEATHS
    • 1960-1969 DEATHS
    • 1970-1979 DEATHS
    • 1980-1999 DEATHS
    • 2000-2009 DEATHS
    • 2010 AND LATER
  • NOTABLE FIREFIGHTERS
    • CALAMITA FAMILY
    • CAPTAIN JOHN WEBER
    • CUSACK FAMILY
    • FLEMING FAMILY
    • GERARD DUGAN
    • HANCOCK FAMILY
    • HENRY OTIS HARRIS
    • ISAAC FELICIANO
    • JOHN GILMORE
    • JOSEPH DAYSPRING
    • KEARNEY-FAMILY
    • MARIANI FAMILY
    • McLAUGHLIN FAMILY
    • SALMANOWITZ BROTHERS
    • THE SIMONTONS
    • THE SWEENEYS
  • NOTABLE FIRES/INCIDENTS
  • SPECIAL OP EVENTS
  • TAKING THE HEAT BOOK
  • HISTORICAL REVIEWS
  • 1907 GUARDIAN
  • 1936 HEARD & SEEN COLUMN
  • FIREHOUSE PHOTOS / FACTS
  • SPECIAL OPERATIONS
  • EMS
    • EMS ROSTER
  • COMPANY & FH HISTORY
  • COMMUNICATIONS / FA
    • FIRE BOX LISTS
    • FIRE BOXES & STANCHIONS
    • EVRS STATION LIST
  • FIRE VIDEOS 1991-2011
  • FIRE VIDEOS 2014-2022
  • DOCUDRAMAS
  • APPARATUS
  • APPARATUS VIDEOS
  • NOTABLE EVENTS INDEX
    • PFD STORIES
    • APPARATUS NOTABLES
    • APPTS & PROMOTIONS
    • AWARDS
    • 1960 CHIEF SELECTION
    • GRAND STREET RIOT 1917
    • GROUND ZERO
    • MILITARY
    • PARADES PAID DEPT
    • RED MASS
    • RESCUES
    • RETIREMENTS
    • SISTER LORETTA
    • SPORTS
    • THEATRE DETAIL
  • MEMORABILIA
  • PATCHES DECALS LOGOS SHIRTS
  • WALLPAPER
  • DEPARTMENT PETS
  • TRAINING
  • VOLUNTEER DEPARTMENT
    • 1821 - 1854 HISTORY
    • 1815-1890 VOLUNTEER HISTORY
    • 1888 HISTORICAL SUMMARY
    • LOOKING BACKWARDS
    • VOLUNTEER PARADES
    • ANNUAL REPORTS
    • VOLUNTEER CHIEFS >
      • CHIEF ELECTIONS
      • CHIEF BIOS
    • VOLUNTEER PROFILES
    • ANDREW MOSER
    • ENGINE CO APPARATUS LIST
    • OLD GOOSENECK
    • JEFFERS STEAMER
    • VOLUNTEER COMPANIES
  • AUXILIARY FIRE DEPARTMENT
  • EXEMPT ASSOCIATION
    • EXEMPT 1892 BALL
    • EXEMPT BY-LAWS 1902
  • EXEMPT HOME & RELICS
  • FMBA / PFA
    • FMBA BY-LAWS
    • FMBA 1949 FOLLIES
  • BALLBOOKS
    • 1909 BALL BOOK
    • 1916 BALL BOOK
    • 1918 BALL BOOK
    • 1921 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1923 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1928 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1935 PFD BOOSTER
    • 1936 JANUARY PICTORIAL
    • 1936 DECEMBER PICTORIAL
    • 1937 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1938 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1939 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1941 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1942 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1943 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1944 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1945 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1946 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1947 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1948 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1949 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1950 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1951 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1952 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1953 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1954 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1955 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1956 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1957 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1958 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1959 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1960 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1961 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1962 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1963 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1964 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1965 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1966 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1967 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1968 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1969 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1970 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1971 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1972 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1973 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1975 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1976 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1977 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1979 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1980 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1981 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1982 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1983 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1984 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1985 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1986 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1987 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1988 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1989 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1990 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1991 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1992 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1993 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1994 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1995 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1996 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1997 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1998 ANNUAL BALL
    • 1999 ANNUAL BALL
    • 2000 ANNUAL BALL
    • 2001 ANNUAL BALL
    • 2002 ANNUAL BALL
    • 2003 ANNUAL BALL
    • 2004 ANNUAL BALL
    • 2005 ANNUAL BALL
    • 2010 ANNUAL BALL
    • 2011 ANNUAL BALL
    • 2014 ANNUAL BALL
    • 2016 ANNUAL BALL
  • ANNUAL REPORTS
  • PFH CONTRIBUTORS
  • ORAL HISTORY
  • STATISTICS
  • CONTACT
  • CITY OF PATERSON