Rochester, New York, USA
Sibley Fire of 1904

Disaster, in the form of a faulty 5-cent fuse, struck in the bitterly-cold early-morning hours of February 26, 1904.

It was said that the Sibley Fire of 1904, started by the aforementioned fuse, and fueled by yard after yard of drapery fabric and other dry goods merchandise, was the most spotted (a night watchman saw the sparks that started it) and most-quickly reported conflagration, by so many people, to such little avail. Fire brigades responded, but the fire spread, dropping burning embers on adjoining roofs. From then on, if the fire was not such a tragedy, it might have been seen as a comedy of errors.

Water that was poured on the structures ultimately froze in the streets and made access treacherous. A horse, pulling a fire engine, kicked open a manhole and got its leg caught; an assistant fire chief slipped on ice and was knocked unconscious; help came all the way from Syracuse, but their equipment was incompatible with that of Rochester's fire brigade, forcing makeshift action to pump water directly out of the Genesee River.

One by one, buildings on the block tumbled down until eventually the fire reached the "fireproof" Granite Building, and Sibley's physical plant succumbed to the blaze. It was only due to the skill and heroism of the fire crews on hand that day that there were no casualties, and the fire was declared "out" within 40 hours of its initial spark. Sibley's lost $1.2 million worth of stock, but though its safe crashed six floors into the store's flooded basement, $40,000.00 was salvaged. Interestingly enough, J. Foster Warner, the architect who was drawing plans for a new Sibley store, lost all of his work for that project and many others due to the fact that his offices were located on the eleventh floor of the Granite Building.

The store's partners reportedly considered taking the insurance money and exiting the business after the fire, but, being successful and fully-engaged merchants, they immediately got to work ordering new stock and operated from makeshift quarters on their new property. Surprisingly, the granite building, though completely burnt-out, stood just as strongly as before, thirteen stories above the corner of Main and St. Paul streets...

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