The 23rd Street Fire—FDNY’s Worst Day Until 9/11

The body of one of 12 FDNY firefighters killed is removed through the 23rd street drugstore entrance of the deadly fire. 

Fifty-five years ago, on October 17, 1966 members of New York Fire Department (FDNY) responded to a roaring blaze in the Flatiron District.  Twelve of them didn’t get out alive.  In the annals of the Department the 23rd Street Fire was the deadliest day until the World Trade Center Towers collapsed on September 11, 2001.

The  fire was first reported at 9:36 pm at the American Art Galleries in a four-story brownstone at 7 East 22nd Street.  When the firefighters first pulled up the intensity of the smoke and heat made it impossible to enter through the 22nd Street side of the building.  Instead, they attacked the conflagration through Wonder Drug located at 6 East 23rd Street which backed up on the art store. 

What they did not know was the gallery, which also dealt in art supplies had removed a load-bearing wall in its basement to expand its storage area to 35 feet underneath the drug store.  Highly flammable lacquer, paint, and finished wood frames were stored in the basement.   The fire likely originated in the basement, although a cause was never determined.

A diagram shows how the removal of a load-bearing basement wall to expand the art store storage led to the collapse of the drugstore floor above.

Several firefighters, mostly from Engine Company 18 and Ladder Company 7 led by two chiefs and Lieutenants from each company were battling intense flames on the first floor of the drug store when the floor suddenly collapsed under them.  Ten plunged into basement and two who clung to the floor were killed in a flash-over fire.  Twelve men perished almost immediately.

Later investigation showed that the fire in the basement had been roaring for more than an hour charring and weakening the wood floor beams which reduced their size and strength.  A 15-by-35-foot section of the floor collapsed at 10:39 pm, one hour and three minutes after the initial alarm was transmitted. 

As firefighters battled the blaze and attempted to rescue their comrades, it became a five alarm box fires with scores of trucks and crews responding.  It still took 14 hours to retrieve the remains.

Killed were:

    Deputy Chief Thomas A. Reilly, FDNY 3rd Division

    Battalion Chief Walter J. Higgins, FDNY 7th Battalion

    Lt. John J. Finley, FDNY Ladder Co. 7

    Lt. Joseph Priore, FDNY Engine Co. 18

    Firefighter John G. Berry, FDNY Ladder Co. 7

    Firefighter James V. Galanaugh, FDNY Engine Co. 18

    Firefighter Rudolph F. Kaminsky, FDNY Ladder Co. 7

    Firefighter Joseph Kelly, FDNY Engine Co. 18

    Firefighter Carl Lee, FDNY Ladder Co. 7

    Firefighter William F. McCarron, FDNY 3rd Division

    Firefighter Daniel L. Rey, FDNY Engine Co. 18

    Firefighter Bernard A. Tepper, FDNY Engine Co. 18

The dead reflected the make-up of the Department—three of the officers and four of the firefighters were ethnic Irish.  One Lieutenant was Italian and one fireman Polish.  Three of the youngest, including one still on probation, were Black who were just being brought into the fire service to significant resistance under political pressure and a Federal discrimination suit.  Perhaps in death they finally achieved full acceptance.

Fire trucks carried the bodies of ten of the dead down 5th Avenue to packed funeral services.  The public lined the street and 10,000 firefighter from the all over the country honored the victims.

10,000 firefighters lined Fifth Avenue on October 21, 1966, as ten firetrucks carried ten coffins to separate services at St. Thomas Protestant Episcopal Church and at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  Firefighters came from as far away as the United Kingdom, Anchorage, Los Angeles and San Francisco, the Northeast United States, and a group of 500 firefighters from Boston.

Regular annual commemorations are still held at the firehouses of the victims and sometimes at the fire site which is marked with a commemorative plaque.  Members of their families are joined by current firefighters, none of whom after all these years now personally remembers the dead.