1902 - Brennen Fire

“Last night occurred the hottest fire the Hamilton firemen have been up against in many years. The large mill building of the M. Brennen & Sons Lumber company, located in the heart of the city on King William street, were in a little over an hour reduced to a pile of smoldering ruins and adjoining property on all sides was badly scorched.”

Hamilton Spectator.     July 12, 1902.

Just a few hours after Hamilton firemen had worked hard at a bad fire, they were called out again. The Pratt department store on James Street north between King and King William streets was the location of the first fire, the second was just 2 ½ blocks away, on King William Street, between John and Catharine streets.

While the Pratt fire was definitely a serious one, the fire at the Brennen site was much more problematic:

“It was a spectacular fire – one that delighted the soul of the fire-loving fiend to the full. It was a fear-producing fire as well, and had it not been that the night was practically still, with but a breath of wind, it would have been impossible for the firemen to hold it as they did. As it was for blocks to the northeast and all around the immediate vicinity, the roofs of houses, shops and factories were covered with volunteer firefighters beating down the showers of sparks and cinders that were constantly falling and threatening wholesale conflagration on every side.”¹

¹ “Spectacular Fire at Brennen’s Planing Mill”

Hamilton Spectator  .    July 12, 1902.

The fire alarm for the Brennen fire was sent in during the evening of July 11, 1902:

“A few minutes before 9 o’clock, the alarm was sounded by telephone. At that minute the fire, which started in the rear of the mill at the southeast corner on an upper floor, was a comparatively small affair. But between the time of sending the alarm and the arrival of the King William street apparatus  from less than half a block away, the flames had spread all over the rear part of the mill. The firemen made a heroic attempt to stop the fire where it started, running lines of hose through the stores from King street, and from John and Catharine street ends of the alley, and sending a deluge of water into the blaze. But it was useless. Everything in the mill was dry as tinder. The breeze fanned the flames, and almost in shorter than it takes to tell it, there were holes in the roof and the conflagration had extended through all the floors.”¹

The firefighters, under the leadership of Chief Aitchison quickly determined that it was impossible to save the Brennen mill, and turned attention to preventing the fire from spreading:

“Across the road, on King William street, the Gurney-Tilden foundry premises were liable at any moment to become food for the flames, while to the west and south of the burning building were many stores, so close that everything about them blistered and the brickwork became so hot that it meant burned fingers to touch it. While the mill building blazed away, the bulk of the firemen, regulars and volunteers, were busy pouring streams of water on the roofs and walls of these places. It was no child’s play, this battling with fiery devastation. Time and again, with the collapsing of walls or floors in the mill premises would monster columns of lurid flame arise, carrying with it showers of sparks and blazing brands that were forever alighting upon adjacent roofs and starting incipient conflagrations. The heat was so intense that it was almost impossible for the men on the hose to remain at their posts hundreds of yards away from the blaze. But they stuck to it, and had the satisfaction, after nearly two hours of the hardest work, of knowing that they held the hottest fire within recollection to the spot in which it started and with a minimum of damage to the valuable properties immediately adjoining.”¹

A particularly dangerous part of the battle waged by the Hamilton firefighters was witnessed by a huge number of people:

“When the floors began to go through in the mill, the firefighters had their most anxious time. The rear portion of the mill has been built but a very short time. It was of heavy construction and contained valuable machinery on all the floors. As floor after floor came down, the noise was terrible. The resounding crashes would immediately be followed by hissing roars as great swirling columns of angry-looking flame rushed heavenward hundreds of feet in the air. With them went the spark showers drifting lazily northeastward and falling everywhere within a distance of five or six blocks. The heat was so intense that the police had no need of ropes to hold the crowd back. It was practically impossible, when the fire was at its height, to approach anywhere within half a block of building without being scorched. But few people wanted to try it, and these were easily handled.”¹

There were many factors that led the fire to be witnessed by one of the largest crowds ever to witness a big blaze in the city:

“It is safe to say that more people were at the fire last night than have ever been at a fire in Hamilton before. The hour was early, the presence of the circus accounted for thousands of strangers being in the city. They all went to the fire, and, with the swarm of people who flocked from all parts of the city attracted by the gorgeous reflection, and the crowd let out of the evening circus performance, made up a throng such as the police were never before called upon to handle.

“So great was the reflection that it startled the summer residents at the beach and at Van Wagner’s, and the Radial railway did a rushing business on the 10 o’clock trip to the city bringing up businessmen and others who were afraid that the whole city was going up in smoke. John H. Tilden was a decidedly interested spectator at the fire, and he was a decidedly happy man when, at 11 o’clock, all danger to the Gurney-Tilden buildings were declared to be at an end. The employees of the foundry hurried to the spot as quickly as they learned where the fire was, and during the whole evening they worked on the roofs and in the yard with coats off and arms bared, putting out the incipient fires that were constantly starting. The fact that the foundry roofs are of metal meant much last night in saving the buildings from destruction. As it was they had a decidedly close call. One thing that aided the firemen in preventing a spread of the flames was the fact that practically all the nearby roofs are made of gravel and metal. Had it been a pine shingle district, it would have been impossible to hold the fire at all.”¹

The Spectator reporter managed to speak to the night watchman at the Brennen mill to learn able to details about what his experienced:

“It was George Nixon, nightwatchman at the Brennen Mills, who discovered the fire and turned in the alarm. He had been through the mill for the second time during the night, and was at work cleaning up the west end of the top flat when he discovered smoke, and almost before he had time to look up, a puff of smoke, which came through the floor, warned him not only that the building was on fire, but that he was in great danger of being cut off from the only exit, the stairway. Grabbing his lantern, he rushed downstairs at a breakneck speed, and pressed the fire alarm button in the office, there being a special wire from the mill to the fire station. He then hurried outside, but the flames had spread so rapidly that the section of the top story where he had been working was already burning like a fiery furnace, and there was also considerable fire in the west end of the ground floor in the vicinity of the engine room. His first thought was for the twelve horses stabled close to the engine room. It was the work of but a few seconds to break open the stable door, and, with the assistance of a number of volunteers, he succeeded in getting all of the horses out just in time to save them, for it was not more than a couple of minutes before te stable was burning fiercely. In the meantime, the firemen had arrived and started work to fight the flames, but the task was a hopeless one, and that the best they could do was to save the adjoining buildings and piles of lumber in the yard. The offices of the Mississauga and Nipissing Lumber companies, to the west of the Brennen mil were in imminent danger, but the firemen fought the flames back and succeeded in saving them.

“In the opinion of Night watchman Nixon, the fire started in the engine room and shot up the chute which ran from the top flat to the engine room and through which the shavings  and saw dust were sent down to a large dust bin, and from there transferred to the furnaces. But even Nixon is at a loss to know how the fire made such a headway before it was discovered. Less than half an hour before he first discovered smoke, he went through the engine room and saw no evidence of anything being wrong. Had he remained on the top flat two minutes longer, he would undoubtedly have perished in the flames as his only means of escape would have been cut off.”¹

The fire fighters, led by the chief did hard work, with the assistance of many volunteers:

“When the floors began to fall, the walls commenced to bulge, and many of the spectators expected to see them collapse at any minute. Chief Aitchison instructed his men to keep one eye on them, and warned them not to expose themselves to unnecessary danger. Large sections of the eastern, southern and western walls did fall in, but fortunately no person was hurt. Many of the men, exhausted after their hard fight at the Pratt fire, were overcome by the heat, but they all stuck to their work until the danger point was passed. The entire department deserves the highest credit for the work done in saving adjacent buildings. Had it not been for the good work of practically every man, the Hope building and office buildings on King William street would surely have gone up in smoke. Again the department received valuable assistance from a large staff of volunteers, the majority of whom gained much experience at the Pratt fire.

“What little breeze there was came from the southwest, and not only did it fan the flames, but it swept millions of sparks and cinders over the Gurney-Tilden foundry and houses and other buildings on Rebecca and Catharine streets. Everybody who had a garden hose put it into service, and by keeping the roofs of the buildings constantly soaked prevented them from becoming ignited. The pressure was again as good as could be desired, eighteen good solid streams being played on the fire and numberless smaller streams being used to keep other buildings in the vicinity from catching fire. The big engine was kept in readiness, but it was not required, there being sufficient pressure to throw the water into the third story windows.”¹

The Spectator carried an article on the aftermath of the Brennen fire. It was learned that the company’s loss would be extremely heavy as there was not enough fire insurance taken out to cover even a quarter of the financial loss. Fire insurance providers were reluctant to take cover planning mills and the premeiums required were prohibitively high.

The members of the Hamilton Fire department came in for high praise for the work they had done:

“Chief Aitchison should now have renewed confidence in himself. For years he has had an idea that when the Brennen mill caught fire, which he was sure it would do, it would mean wholesale destruction of property in all directions. He looked for this, and prophesied it. Thanks to the right sort of weather conditions, which the chief would call a fluke of nature, he has been proven to be a bad prophet. The comment of the public generally today is that it was a miracle that the firemen held the blaze to the mill property, even practically saving the dwelling house to the east of it.

“Firemen were kept busy pouring water on the smoldering ruins all morning. The walls were very shaky, and Building Inspector Anderson had King William street and the alley at the rear of the burned building fenced off.

“When the fire was at its height word was received that fire had broken out again in the Pratt building. Foreman Broadbent and half a dozen men were sent to attend to it. They located the fire in the top story, near the front of the building. A pile of cotton was blazing and the firemen threw it out into the street. Very little additional damage was done.” ¹

“Chief Aitchison should now have renewed confidence in himself. For years he has had an idea that when the Brennen mill caught fire, which he was sure it would do, it would mean wholesale destruction of property in all directions. He looked for this, and prophesied it. Thanks to the right sort of weather conditions, which the chief would call a fluke of nature, he has been proven to be a bad prophet. The comment of the public generally today is that it was a miracle that the firemen held the blaze to the mill property, even practically saving the dwelling house to the east of it.

“Firemen were kept busy pouring water on the smoldering ruins all morning. The walls were very shaky, and Building Inspector Anderson had King William street and the alley at the rear of the burned building fenced off.

“When the fire was at its height word was received that fire had broken out again in the Pratt building. Foreman Broadbent and half a dozen men were sent to attend to it. They located the fire in the top story, near the front of the building. A pile of cotton was blazing and the firemen threw it out into the street. Very little additional damage was done.”