1972 — June 17, Fire/building collapse, firefighters killed, Hotel Vendome, Boston, MA– 9

–9  Boston Fire Historical Society. Boston’s Fire Trail. 2007, p. 59.

–9  City of Boston Fire Department. “Vendome Hotel Fire.” Accessed 4-19-2013.

 

Narrative Information

 

City of Boston Fire Department: “At 2:35 PM on Saturday, June 17, 1972, Box 1571 was received at Boston Fire Alarm. It would be the first of four alarms required to extinguish a raging fire at the former Hotel Vendome on Commonwealth Avenue at Dartmouth Street. It took nearly three hours to stop the blaze. Apparatus at the scene included 16 fire engines, 5 ladders, 2 aerial towers and 1 heavy rescue. All apparatus had full crews.

 

“Once the fire was out, the BFD commenced a routine overhaul operation. Then, at 5:28 PM, without warning, the southeast section of the building collapsed.

 

“More than any other event in the three hundred year history of the Boston Fire Department, the Vendome tragedy exemplifies the risk intrinsic to the firefighting profession and the accompanying courage required in the performance of duty.  Nine firefighters were killed on that day, eight more injured; eight women widowed, twenty-five children lost their fathers; a shocked city mourned before the sympathetic eyes of the entire nation.” (City of Boston Fire Department. “Vendome Hotel Fire.” Accessed 4-19-2013.)

 

Lt. Thomas J. Carroll

Lt. John E. Hanbury, Jr.

Fire Fighter Thomas W. Beckwith

Fire Fighter Joseph E. Boucher, Jr.

Fire Fighter Charles E. Dolan

Fire Fighter John E. Jameson

Fire Fighter Richard B. Magee

Fire Fighter Paul J. Murphy

Fire Fighter Joseph P. Saniuk

 

(City of Boston Fire Department. “Nine Fire Fighters Killed in the Vendome Hotel Fire.”)

 

Sources

 

Boston Fire Historical Society. Boston’s Fire Trail: A Walk Through the City’s Fire and Firefighting History. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2007.

 

City of Boston Fire Department. “Nine Fire Fighters Killed in the Vendome Hotel Fire.” Accessed 4-19-2013: http://www.cityofboston.gov/fire/memorial/vendome_firefighters.asp