Waterfront fires, rescue operations

Hi, Judy:
Just in from painting outside to grab a cup o' Java. There were never any emergencies during dad's tour of duty with the city covering the Cincinnati Public Landing that I recall. Dad died in 1979 and had been retired then eleven years. From time-to-time, trucks, buses, autos etc. would have brakes fail and head down the landing into the river...KERPLASH! They were always there for rescue in case somebody was still inside the vehicles. Fortunately, I don't recall any victims. The big fire threats were in the old buildings at the top of the landing and on the west side where some of the old produce, paper and rag companies were located adjacent to FRISBEE MACHINE CO. Dad hauled me down there years ago and that was when I first met the Underwoods on the DQ. They talked to dad, gave me a ham sandwich and him a cup of coffee from out of the boat's cook house behind the crew dining room. I declare that to be the finest ham sandwich I ever had in my life.

I've an old 1940s photo of me here as a kid with dad holding me and wearing his uniform in front of an old AMERICAN LAFRANCE fire engine with the big, round pressue ball on the front made of solid brass. That was a long time ago.

Next to dad in the photo is old Capt. Fagan of the Cincinnati Fire Dept. He was one of the men who answered the call when the big steamboat fire hit the Public Landing and the boats in 1922. The boats went up like tinder and the forces couldn't get fire hoses down that far other than pumping water directly from the river. Dad was always welcomed by the GREENE LINE as he was concerned if and when help was ever needed there was a 'plan' in evidence. The City of Cincinnati still maintains at least one big, powerful fireboat now at the main station up on Broadway. It used to be in the old station at Pearl and Martin and in my memory was pretty impressive.

Dad also was a fire/damage specialist during World War II on the East Coast. He got aboard many of the Navy vessels heavily damaged in the war and returned to yards for repairs. He just barely missed being aboard the huge FRENCH LINE's NORMANDIE when she caught fire at the pier on the Hudson, burned and capsized. Dad had orders for the ship but on the day of arrival at Grand Central Station, went out to the street and saw, smelled the smoke from the NORMANDIE. The Navy changed his orders pronto and sent him to Bainbridge, Md. He saw the inferno but not when she capsized that night.

The biggest fire in years here was when the huge BALDWIN PIANO factory in town burned to the ground. One time some welders were working on Roebling's Suspension Bridge and set some of the wood decking afire. That was exciting.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

The most recent Cincinnati waterfront fire I can recall was about 1972 when the sternwheel towboat ATTABOY, long the consort for the SHOWBOAT MAJESTIC, caught fire. The firemen were having difficulty getting hoses aboard until Capt. John Beatty brought the towboat CLARE E. BEATTY alongside and the blaze was quickly extinguished.

CAPTAIN HOOK Burned

Captain John Beatty's CAPTAIN HOOK (DESTREHAN/ CHARLES R. HOOK) went up in flames above the Cincinnati ice piers before 1970. Another time, as I was crossing the Suspension Bridge, there were fire trucks on the landing by the DELTA QUEEN. From the bridge ominous clouds of grey smoke were seen billowing from the boat, but when I arrived, the clouds were actually huge plastic tarps blowing in the wind. A small fire, aboard, was limited to the clothes dryer that decided to overheat and bake some poor soul’s knickers.

http://modelplans.steamboats.org/p7-destrehan.html

Hi, Keith & Shipyard:
Okay, there were 'incidents' on the landing here. One of the major events was a fire on the DELTA QUEEN detected by a couple passing by in an auto on the Suspension Bridge. They sounded the alarm and all was put under control in good time. Question at the time was, "Where was the DQ crew aboard?" I was away in the Navy/Marine Corps. I 'think' Cap'n Betty Blake rewarded the couple with a free trip. Several years before all of this my dad rotated to the station at Lunken Airport covering all of the hangers there. He retired in 1968, worked in private industry--where he made his big money--fell to a long seige of cancer and died in 1979. 'Nuff said here.

Cheers,
R. Dale Flick

During the 8 day layup here in RI in 1954, there were several incidents including a fire on board and a car's brakes giving way, sending it down the levee against the DQ's hull. The newspaper headline on the car was "Delta Queen passengers on top of the news". It happened while they were eating breakfast in the Orleans Room. The fire occurred shortly after a young lady from this area checked in for the return trip to Cincy. According to Letha Greene in Long Live.., a fire was set in a painter's bucket on the top deck and someone on shore called the fire department. A little later, this same woman was found disconnecting fire hose and a wastebasket in the linen room was found ablaze. She was under constant surveillance the whole trip. Back in 1983 when the Priamos pierced the Natchez at the Toulouse Street wharf, the two NOLA fireboats Deluge and Lewis Bourgeois came and pumped the water out until they could get the Natchez otherwise stabilized, and they were always given credit for saving the Natchez. I miss those stylish boats - they used to come down into Algiers Bend at 3:30 on Sunday afternoons and spray red, white, and blue streams of water up in the air, a beautiful sight. Today there is a generic looking cruiser, the General Kelley replacing them.

Some years ago I was watching television on a Sunday afternoon when BREAKING NEWS was flashed on the screen with this announcement: "Fire aboard the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE! Details at 6:OO PM." Of course, I nearly jumped through the ceiling, wondering if it was something minor or the boat was engulfed in flames like the SULTANA, with passengers jumping overboard! It turned out to be a cigarette dropped down into a window sill on the boiler deck, causing a small fire that was quickly extinguished by the Belle's competent and well trained crew.

The BELLE has sometimes been reported by people on shore to be "ablaze" at her stern when, at night, the floodlights on the fantail which illuminate her bright red paddlewheel create an unusual visual effect of "flames", as the pitmans rise and fall, amidst clouds of steam. Seen from a distance, it does, indeed, look like the wheel is on fire!

When I was a crew member on the DQ, a young man was hired (at a town on the Upper Mississippi) as a deckhand who was suspected of being a "fire bug" from various comments he made to other crew members, who were alert and wary. I saw him down in the paint locker (in the hold beneath the engine room) acting very strangely (moreso than usual!) and he asked me if the DQ had ever caught fire. I reported the incident immediately and, sorry to say, the employment for this fellow was of short duration. Better to be safe than sorry!

Keith,

One of my favourite stories of the BELLE and fire is from the first TALL STACKS event.

We (the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE) were upbound in south harbour at about 9pm on Sunday evening and Capt. Joseph Hughes was at the wheel. He, like the entire crew, was tired and ready for that long trip home when a little static preceeded this message (from an to be un-named vessel to protect the possibility of innocence) over the marine band radio..."XXXX to the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE". Capt. Hughes responded..."BELLE OF LOUISVILLE back to the XXXXX". The other vessel continued the conversation..."Cap, we are just about a half mile behind you and wanted to let you know we think your paddlewheel is on fire....smoke is pouring out of it!" This person from the other vessel was not only talking in very serious terms but, proceeded to speak rather quickly as if there was possible disaster afoot.

Capt. Hughes made a statement I cannot repeat in this forum other than to surmise its intent. Something to the effect of this intellegenc-challanged individual whose mother resembled a canine animal must really think wet wood burns while rotating in water. He then picked up the radio and quite calmly stated the following... "thanks Capt. this happens from time to time, I will send the watchman back there with a bucket of water".

The rest of the conversation in the pilothouse that evening was about this conversation and how operators of screw boats don't understand the operation of a true paddlewheel steamboat.

The BELLE has a steam-powered stering assist unit which exhausts spent steam into the wheel. This isn't the first and surely won't be the last time this conversation plays out over the radio. I guess you had to be there to appreciate the humoristic value of the dead-pan delivery of Capt. Joe Hughes and the subsequent conversation following the event.

By the way, the fire you are speaking of was on Mothers Day (May 12th that year, I believe) 1988. The entire crew had just gone through fire fighting training with the Louisville Fire Department the month preceeding. We all from the Concession Stand workers to the Captain, crawled through a burning buiding, rescued dummies, put out all sorts of electrical, wood, and chemical fires.

The fire was reported just about the time we passed the Louisville Water Company upbound (of about 1/2 hour up river form the Louisville Public Landing). Our crew responded and had the situation under control before we got to the emergency landing at Cox's Park just a scant couple of hundred feet above the location where the fire was reported. Because protocal demands such, we contacted the Louisville Fire Department and they were there when the boat landed at Cox's Park about 15 minutes later.

Imagine their pride seeing the training they gave our crew saved the boat and the day!

No one was hurt and a little paint and a replaced panel later, the boat was out on an evening cruise.

Today, training is essential on a passenger riverboat. Mates and all licensed individuals are required to take fire-fighting safety courses and take time to properly train the crew with their knowledge. I can vouch for every vessel I have worked on when I say, the training is both informative and constantly updated with every crew member. Each boat I have worked on has to under go quarterly inspection with attending members of the United States Goast Guard and I have never seen one of those conducted without a mandatory fire and/or boat drill.

Last time I was on a boat for her quarterly we were doing the drill wth the US Coast Guard (typical proceedure) and I encountered a US Coast Guard officer in the drill. He asked me to identify the 5 parts of the fire station (the sign, the spanner wrench, the nozzle, the hose and the valve) and then proceeded to instruct me a crew member was trapped in the kitchen....so I moved in to rescue them by asking the various Coast Guard personnel about the vessel if I was in a dangerious area (this is how we role-play a fire aboard a vessel with passengers aboard). I rescued the individual in the end by finding a safe way in. This looks good to the Coast Guard, as all crew have the traininng to know how this is done should an actual emergency arise.

Why am I taking the time to recite this story? To exempify the point even the entertainers have the training and ability to respond quickly and effectively in an emergency aboard a boat.

I still laugh to this day when we get a report of the wheel on fire on the BELLE. It sure does show you how technology has changed on the river!

~Travis~