NFPA Journal - July/August 2020 - 80

ON THE
WATERFRONT
THE 1921 HOBOKEN PIER FIRE
By Caitlin Walker
n the evening of August 24, 1921,
several vessels were docked at the
Hoboken Pier in Hoboken, New
Jersey. Some of the vessels had
recently transported the remains of
thousands of US soldiers back from France, where
they had died fighting in World War I. Some of
the bodies remained on the docked ships, while
others were being held in warehouses on the piers,
according to the Courier News.
Piers 4, 5, and 6 were controlled by the United
States Army Transport Service, and at around 6:30
p.m. a watchman spotted a fire in a shed near the
waterfront of Pier 5 and sounded the alarm. By
the time the Hoboken Fire Department arrived at

FIRE INCIDENTS AND
OTHER NOTABLE EVENTS
FROM SAFETY HISTORY

the scene, Pier 5 was engulfed
in flames; the intense heat and
smoke made accessing the pier
impossible, and Chief John
Gilday immediately called for
additional help. According to
a Fire and Water Engineering
article, the Jersey City Fire
Department sent additional
land apparatus, and the New
York Fire Department sent
several fireboats, including the
New Yorker, the Duane, and the
Strong.
A New York Times article
indicated that, shortly after
reinforcements arrived, the
fire had spread to Pier 6 and
was threatening the Leviathan, a large vessel that was docked at Pier
4. While the Strong and the New Yorker attacked the burning piers, the
Duane placed itself between the Leviathan and the burning pier, spraying the ship to protect it from the fire. The efforts of the fireboats and a
shift in the wind are thought to have prevented the fire from destroying
the ship and spreading to Pier 4, where the remains of 1,500 US soldiers
were being stored.
Meanwhile, on land, the remains of 400 US soldiers were endangered
when the fire began spreading to a warehouse between Piers 4 and 5.
Army officers from the 13th Infantry removed the 650-pound caskets
from the heat- and smoke-filled warehouse. The officers, along with 100
recruited civilians, carried the bodies to safety, according to a New York
Times article.
Thanks to the combined efforts of attacking by both land and sea,
the fire was brought under control around 10 pm. The fire destroyed
Pier 5, including the Army headquarters and barracks, and about 100
feet of Pier 6. It also damaged some of the vessels docked at the piers.
The cause of the fire is unknown, but according to an NFPA Quarterly
article, it was thought that the fire may have started as a result of faulty
electric wiring or from a discarded cigarette.
THE NFPA LIBRARY AND ARCHIVE holds a rich collection of books, reports, and photographs
that document important moments in fire history. To provide better electronic access for researchers and to preserve our unique archival holdings, work has begun to digitize the files of the Fire
Record Department, the original NFPA department responsible for collecting and analyzing information and compiling statistics about key fires and other events. The incidents featured in "Looking
Back" are drawn from this collection and will eventually be part of NFPA's online archive. For information, visit nfpa.org/library.

NFPA RESEARCH LIBRARY & ARCHIVES

Looking Back

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NFPA Journal - July/August 2020

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