The Great Chelsea Fire of 1973, NFPA Documentary
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- CHELSEA, MA: The Second Great Chelsea Fire, City of Chelsea, MA, Oct 14, 1973. 18 city blocks were destroyed as a conflagration raged in 50MPH winds, centered on the Chelsea "Rag District", a several-block area of densely packed and dilapidated wood-frame storage buildings, housing paper and textile scrap for the junk and recycling industry.
1200 firefighters from 111 fire departments responded to Chelsea. The fire was eventually stopped when several blocks of tenement buildings were sacrificed in order to set up a valiant head-on stand at the Williams School.
Raw digitization of original film published by the National Fire Protection Association, 1974. Original recording has only one audio channel (right speaker only).
My dad was a Lieutenant with the Chelsea fire department. His name was Charles Crowley. I have original footage of this fire.
Share with us, please
Any relation to Frank Crowley?
I would love to see the video footage...my 2nd uncle was the captain of the Medford Fire Department that lost their engine company.
I remember this fire well. I was 20 and working as a cab driver. Myself and some friends happened to be at the cab stand at Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge that day. That is the highest "hill" in that area and we could see the smoke grow and grow and grow until even where we were, about 12 miles away, the sky darkened up a bit. We had our radios on trying to find out what was going on. The minute someone said Chelsea we knew how bad it was going to be. The Rag District was notorious for being dangerous. Streets were nothing but potholes, many buildings were empty and trash in the streets could get up to 2-3 feet high depending on the wind. After the second big fire the city decided they had had enough and simply bulldozed the entire area.
I remember seeing it on the news here in Texas, and thinking that being a firefighter might be pretty cool. And after I got out of the Army...that is exactly what I did. For 29 years!
@@poppablue59kent75 Good for you!!!🤗🤗🤗🤗
@@poppablue59kent75
Read my comment....about my 2nd uncle being with the Medford Fire Department.
I too, became a firefighter....that's all I ever wanted to be. Thank you brother for your service and dedication to our great nation and your community...God bless you and yours.
I was 6 yrs old watching this fire from the Soldiers Home, I grew up in Prattville after the Blizzard of 78 destroyed our house in Beachmont part of Revere, the one memory I can remember was being on my dads shoulders and seeing the biggest clouds of smoke and the biggest flames I have ever seen being fanned up by the winds, I grew up one street down from then Chief Fothergill and my parents were best friends with future Chief Ed Conolly, this and the blizzard of 78 are 2 disasters I will never forget and will always be proud to say I grew up in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Chelsea Strong!!!!
My mom grew up in Chelsea. We could see the smoke from our house in Danvers in ‘73. She was in tears.
Yikes... DANVERS?!?
I was there with the Chelsea lighting truck. My Dad was Chief of the Chelsea Aux FD.
Charlie Smith. He was 63 [ I was 23] at the time. We heard the original box 215 struck on his fire call radio. Headed to Central Station to get the lighting unit. Long night! Thank GOD nobody was killed!
DAVIDDAVIDCSMITH It was amazing nobody was killed .. 18 blocks wow.
Thank god you and your father made it thru this horrific scene. How devastating for that town . Just awful. I cant imagine what it looked like in reality
@DAVIDDAVIDCSMITH
My 2nd uncle was the captain of the Medford Fire Department that lost their engine company.
the man that owns the home I live fought this fire. he is 10 years older than me, still alive, & kicking. the people of Chelsea I have had the pleasure of having as friends as I have lived here, were all very generous. a lot of my heart is in this community. my children grew up here. a wonderfull place to live in, "if you can live here, you can live anywhere".
watching it now, John. Wow!
Thank you for this video.
I was 5 years old, living in Weymouth, MA, at the time of the fire. My father took us all to someplace where we could see the fire burning. I was frightened by what I saw. I can still see the massive plume of black smoke rising from the orange glow on the ground. I don't know how far we were from the fire, but I believe we had not left Weymouth. I'll have to look at a map to get a better idea.
My parents had been looking at houses in the Southbridge area of MA, and were preparing to move, as my father had gotten a promotion.
We moved to Sturbridge on November 14, 1973, exactly one month after the Chelsea fire. On a side of a side note, my sister and I just sold Mom and Dad's house, on November 14, 2022; 49 years, to the day, after buying it.
Strange how memories intertwine.
Edit: I've looked at a map and remember, now, we were at the shore, looking at the fire over the water. That put us about 12 miles from the fire. It still looked huge, even from that far away.
This was so interesting. I didn’t come around until 87 and grew up in Dorchester but I’m always intrigued to learn of Boston’s history.
I grew up in Lynn, MA in the 1960s-70s the "Fire Capital"of Mass. Lol
And I lived in the Highland of Lynn near High Rock Tower and we could see Boston with a great clear view from the third floor and that Fire looked so incredible from that view all night, just flames & smoke everywhere !! I had older Aunts & Uncle in Chelsea and Revere then, my Mother was so worried but they were okay.
So many fire in the 70s in Lynn then also, Huge Fires that took out multiple blocks ... The Apache Alarm building fire, the JP Blood building, the First Methodist Church and the Big one downtown Lynn with is now where the College is Hmm, that wasn't set on purpose right Lol !!!🤔🔥
Lynn bows to no one in fire history, that one in the 70s near the Lynnway could almost give Chelsea's a run for the money.
@@lefantomer Yes, it was a crazy era for sure !! I lived in 7 states when I got out of Lynn in 1977' and many different Towns and cities and no other place was like it !! Let's say it made my time in the Military and real life much easier Lol. Growing up in Lynn in that time hardened all the edges and made you deal with life !! Lol
Makes ya wonder. Lol.
I was eleven at the time,I lived in Somerville and a friend and I were walking on Shore Dr and saw a fire at the Mystic Boat Club,we then saw the smoke from the Chelsea fire and walked there and saw street after street just burning,it was hot and smoky of course. We were there for a couple of hours then headed for home ,the street we walked on was now blocked and we had no idea how to get back but somehow we found our way home and it is something I'll always remember.
I was born in 1969 and we lived at 767 Broadway. This was a very tough year for us . Our dad died suddenly on April 7 and then this happened. Our mother had us stay in Beachmont while the fire was raging.
was born in 67 and lived in Beachmont at the time, moved to Chelsea after being flooded out of 5 George Av next to the White church Our Lady of Lords I believe right near Beachmont Station, my dad was raised in Chelsea in Prattville where we moved to in 78, my dad took us up to the Soldiers Home and I remember the huge smoke rising so high and the flames shooting hundreds of feet in the air, will never forget it, will never forget being taken out of my house in Beachmont in a front end loader to the church and then being bussed to Revere High School because the church went under water to.
@@fredcollari4400 I grew up in Prattville, near the corner of Garfield and Sagamore Aves, in the 40s-early 60s. My grandparents fled the 1908 fire, to East Boston. I lived in NYC when this one hit and followed it on the tv news. There were always fires going on in Chelsea but this one made me understand what the 1908 must have been like.
I remember this, I was in high school, north of Chelsea, good to hear those old time accents!
I'm glad there were no deaths! It's almost a miracle. Plus, I'm glad it didn't burn down Katz Bagels... Still making amazing bagels since 1938. If this comment was a paid advertisement, I'd ask for payment in pizza bagels. When this fire happened, I had about two months left of my 9 month stint as a fetus...as I was paroled in December of 73.
I remember Katz bagels!! When we would go visit my cousins down the street, my Dad would sometimes stop and get us some - pizza bagels was such a treat!! 😋
Lol
This is completely new to me. Thanks for posting it.
My dad grew up in Chelsea, as I did but I was born in 75, so it was before my time...but it was a horrible fire...took out a good part of Chelsea....God Bless this City. And kids today who grew up and live here should be educated to see what this city has been through with this and other horrific Fires.
My Daddy was right there with your Dad, Danell Tomasella!
I live in chelsea now and yea chelsea has been through a lot from the corruption to the fires. But chelsea is getting better.
I live in Chelsea and the kids there are not well behaved.
@@reinamoreira7753 That's because we were the "Red Devils"!
I was living in Nashua NH and heard that even some of our Fire Dept and Equipment went to Chelsea. I kept the Boston Globe for years from that day. I had never before lived so close to one of the biggest fires ever, at least in my lifetime.
The month before, in fact on my 21st Birthday we had a lumberyard and paint store catchon fire across the street from where I worked at Beebe Rubber Company. I remember looking out the window and seeing an orange glow on their big display window and thinking that it was odd because the sun had already come up and it looked like a reflection of it Not long after that the building just kind of exploded and cans of paint were popping like firecrackers from the heat. On the side street from it was a block long residence (One Bldg) for about eight families or so. Some of us ran over and pounded on doors to make sure no one was still inside. Because of the parked cars on the street catching on fire the fire crossed the street to that row house and burnt the place to the ground.
Since our presses in the factory were hydraulic powered they let us go early with pay due to the low water pressure
My 21st Birthday and one I have never forgotten. It was a pretty bad day for the people who lived in those apartments and the lumberyard employees.
I can’t even imagine what that must’ve been like
This fire, like so many others, was the culmination of several disparate decisions made by community officials and structure owner/operators without the consideration of consequences. If you’re interested in the facts and learning about major fires, look at the Oakland fire in 1991, the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub Fire, Our Lady of Angels school fire, the San Francisco Earthquake an Fire, and others. The conflicts between public safety, personal interests, inadequate planning, building codes and fire/ life safety codes often result in tragedy.
You want a hell of a good pair of books,buy The Circus Fire by Stewart O'Nan,and Killer Show by John Barylick.
My mother told me about the coconut Grove when I was a teenager....she was raised in Boston and she was a teenager when that fire occurred.
I was turning 14 years old in Woburn when me and 2 friends climbed Horn Pond Mt to see where smoke was from. Was a lot of very black smoke. Still remember that image of smoke rising on the horizon
I remember that fire well as i was the Chelsea Fire Department Chaplain and Pastor at the Congregational church UCC at the time.
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i remember this i was on my way back to boston on the pike coming from a weekend at Westover AFB was a Air Fotce Fire Fighter and my partner and i had our Fire Gear in the car and went to the scene
I was born and raised in Chelsea as was my parents. My Dad was a Chelsea firefighter an retired in 66 so he missed that fire but he fought plenty in his time there.Chelsea was a ghetto to me and I left in 65. I had a good lift there but it was a run down city and maybe the best thing to happen was a fire to get rid of lots of rundown buildings. It's a tough way to go but it needed it. I'm glad I don't live there anymore.
my father was a firefighter in it and had his first heart attack while fighting this
Susan Cook sorry to hear about that
God Bless him for being a hero!
WOW that is crazy. Hope he made a full recovery.
I was 48 years old when I found this. Never knew this.
I was about 6...I remember we drove there to pick up my aunt and cousins, so they could stay with us...I could see the fires...it was really scary.
My grandfather from Weymouth Fire was there
i was visiting relatives in east boston and had to leave because my dad was a billerica firefighter and was called in for backup for other towns,
My dad was on the firetruck that had to be abadonad
+Christopher Callahan Was the truck lost or did they eventually recover it?
My grandfather was the officer of that truck. Lt Francis R. Cronin. Medford fire.
Ask your.dad what chief Fothergill Said to him on the roof of the Williams school. At least made it out of the tunnel of fire with all his men, and the chief promised to buy him a new truck.
@@phillipsredden6676 My grandmother and aunt ran the cafeteria at Williams for years before WWII. So grateful to the firemen for saving it.
I remember the fire like it was yesterday. Living in Mattapan at the time you could smell the smoke. So sad. Welcome Market Basket a very hot spot. Remember when.
J C I remember the Mystic Mall I used to get my CB radios and police scanners and Radio Shack times have changed I miss the arcade
My inlaws lived in Chelsea when this happened. It was so frightening!
Wow, I remember that day! My father took us kids to Wollaston Beach in Quincy to watch "Chelsea Burn". Years later I'd wonder if I'd dreamed it...
I was only five but I remember seeing the column of black in the sky, from my grandmother's porch on Windsor Road in Medford.
I was 8 years old at the time and remember seeing this massive fire on the evening news.
I’ll never forget this when it happened…..we could see the smoke all the way up in Lawrence from 495
This fire reminds me of the knickerbocker fire of 1977 in bushwick Brooklyn nyc it started in a piano warehouse the fire whent to 5 alarms and numerous special calls for units the fire destroyed 2 blocks of bushwick
I was living in Everett 22 years old me and a friend went to that fire that Sunday afternoon I was on the Everett auxiliary went home grapped my gear and both of us made our way through the fire roadblocks and lines to seek out my father who was a Everett firefighter working that day we found him and lent a hand where we could never forget that All the firefighters World War Two vets up against a firefight like no other
I was in the National Guard, Military Police deployed to the devastated community to patrol the damaged area & keep sightseers away.
Was visiting Taunton and returning home to Nh on the Tobin Bridge, couldn’t believe it, looked the entire city was on fire.
I remember it well. Watched the smoke rise from Wollaston Beach in Quincy. We collected food and clothing in school for the fire victims. I visited the area with my father the next weekend. I remember the National Guard out there, and it looked like a scene from WW2.
My brother Joe (RIP) and I almost got trapped in a junk yard when the Chelsea fire (conflagration) started... I will never forget what I saw and heard exploding behind us while running away. I was looking back over my shoulder with Joe dragging me by my arm thru the junk hole ... omg... the sky went black and the sun dissappeard. There was a whipping wind carrying hunks of burning junk ... pissed my mom off hugely... afterwards when we could walk thru there I recall the black top had melted and all sorts of household items were entrapped in the mess. The devastation was unreal..we lived on chestnut and Everett ave... luckily we were spared.. I was 12 years old then..I'll be 62 next month... ironically Joe passed away on Oct 14, 2004 the 31st anniversary of the fire...
I've never heard of this fire before. It happened 7 years before I was born but my Dad and Mom were teenagers at the time so I know they knew of this fire. I'm surprised they never told us about it when we were kids. Maybe because we live in Fall River, Mass but this was definitely on the news. What a crazy huge fire.n
I was only 4 years old but I remember it well. We watched the fire from our living room window in Orient Heights, East Boston. The biggest fire I’ve ever seen.
I saw this film when I was in rookie school in 1986.
As stated elsewhere Chelsea had a great Fire Chief in Herb Fothergill
So true. His broiler captain Fothergill was a great guy too. I know this because I (Rev. Frederick W. Rogers) was the Chaplain of the fire Department and spent a long night helping to fight the conflagration. I will never forget that night and the time after helping those affected by the fire to get help along with Rev Larry French and the Salvation Army as well as the red Cross. I am 75 and retired but it almost seems like yesterday.
I was born in 2002 so I’m just discovering this now. Crazy how the wind was gusting to 100mph, makes me wonder about what storm system was out there.
I went to school across from city hall.... this fire burned 10 years after Chelsea in a dump in danverse.... Holy flashback
my dad died in a rooming house fire in Chelsea in Oct 1974. I've been looking to see if there was a video of it but since it was not a giant fire i guess not.
nick jordan many cities keep fire reports from many years ago.
@jordan23nh
Check with the local television News channels....they should have it.
I am so sorry that you had to experience that and for the loss of your dad...God bless you
Wow. Thought it was California when I first saw that fire in some serious winds. God bless these folks. Fire is so devastating. Be safe and Be careful out there!
Hard to believe it was 50 years ago. I'll never forget it. It's also hard to believe no one lost their life. In retrospect, it was one of the largest urban renewal projects in history. I'm not being glib, the State and Federal disaster aid helped a dying city renew itself.
Always we will born in the ashes we are chelsea God bless chelsea
my family and aunt uncle and cousins lived on eagle hill in east boston and seen the fires from her 3rd floor porch facing the back of cabot paints across the creek and seen the entire thing... crazyyy
It sounds like this became a true firestorm of the kind that Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo and Hiroshima experienced during WWII.
+Scott Garnett from all accounts i have heard, it was. the area was the recycling captial of the US - which is where the fire started, with combustibles that we quickly lit and toxic. the fire was almost out of control when it started, and with none of the modern technology, the participaing fire companies from all over Massachusetts, had great difficulty co-ordinating and implementing a fire plan. in order to save the city, they kept backing up the fire line to the most outermost they could and it sacrificed those eighteen blocks, which took down churches, homes, businesses, 17,000 people were left homeless in one day. here is the absolute kicker - they had a conflagration at the turn of the 20th century, and it too, took out half of the city. at this time, the city was a diamond - it was almost a resort, an opera house, chic businesses, speaking halls, natural springs, a shipbuilding industry, the main ferry point to the north shore. Everyone and everything came up or down Broadway: traffic is re-routed differently now. of course, the fire has left a trauma on the face of the city, and the residents are quick to block planning approval or zoning of any building that they clearly see as a fire risk - and they know from the literal loss of this city twice, how critical fire safety is. there used to be a city archives website online, but it is not operating currently. however, you can find photographs of both eras just before the fires, and the destruction of the fires online at the State Digitial Archives through Mass.gov. the city has not lost its luster - artists return again and again to paint and photograph the city, and an appointment city manager, and elected City Council members look forward to continue to build the foundation for the city's success.
+Scott Garnett #2, and now that i think about it, i don't even know if there are monuments in the city to pay homage to the loss, and the dedication of the firefighters to save the city both times. i would say it is long overdue to celebrate these unsung heroes. i can imagine many of the firefighters had thoughts that they might not return home, and families from all over Massachusetts probably wondered if their loved ones would survive.i have seen forest fires burn out of control on mountaintops for months - it is shocking and terrifying to hear the fires let along see them.
It certainly looks like Hamburg in the "Whirlwind" episode of World at War. 100 mph winds at ground level, thermals hundreds of feet high, "except in wartime men had never had to fight this kind of fire..." It sure sounds like a firestorm to me.
Now That's What I Call urban renewal
We were in Beverly ma and could see the smoke 15 miles away.
unreal don't remember any of this as I was only 1 at the time..
My dad Charles A Crowley fought that fire.
This is why regulations are good. This could never happen today except for all the deregulations we're going through lately.
stevieray56 They are a necessary evil. I hate nitpicking rules over nothing, but there's a lot to lose when a whole neighborhood is a fire hazard. I pity those folks burned out of their homes. Just everyday people who lost everything they had. Like it or not there has to be some rules or it's anarchy.
Seems to be happening on a regular basis in California.
We could see the smoke from our Little League field. Waltham/Watertown line. Amazing!
Wow❤ I grew in Chelsea I was 13 years old I went to Williams school at that time 😂 I could go on for hours it is the sadist time four Chelsea residence peppy
I sat on a hill and watched it. That's the west side of Boston, which is pretty far from Chelsea
I have no memory of this fire.
I was 10 my dad took me to see it from the highway. Great documentary too bad people today don't know how to film.when did it become the norm to shake the camera and zoom in and out.it drives me crazy
Tragic
Incredible footage.A war zone.
I wish there was one of these about the two times the city of Haverhill mass burned down
Fire storms creates their own weather apparently.
why the delated alarm?
Was there a cabinet place in that fire
I was 10 and my dad said lets go after the second alarm and we watched from the soldiers home.
how do you adjust tracking ?....oh wait, it kinda clear now
yeah, kids now days got it easy. not saying bootlegging stuff...well yeah, bootleg stuff.
Coming home from nh getting cigarettes and beer with my parents saw the smoke and turned on the radio and whdh said Chelsea was on fire asked grandma to there she said no way and be quiet or I am coming back there
Smoke's On the WATER.
I wonder what happened to all the people who lost everything?
We was talking about tis justice 2day.
When was this documentary made?
October 2013; I just found it !
I believe it was made in the 1980s but am not sure. It was uploaded by Chelsea FD in 2013.
Never mind, video says 1974.
Fire happened in October of 1973 irregardless of when the video was "Made"
Made in 1974 but just published to YT a few years ago.
Tin cans full of combustibles in the midst of socially cohesive communities.
Can We get A Amen?.
And A blessing2.
By the way that fire i was 2
:(
TWO TRAINS CRASH OKAY EVERYONE
My 2nd uncle, was the fire captain from the Medford Fire Department that was forced to abandon their engine company in order to save the crew's lives......
Medford Fire was dispatched on the 2nd alarm.
I know this was decades ago but im curious as to wether an exact ignition location was ever found and if there was ever a cause of the initial fire determined.