Project Roll Call

On June 22, 1974, Firefighter Robert “Bob” Arens lost his life while heroically attempting to rescue 18-year-old Jean Heidesch during a violent storm in Remsen, Iowa.

On a quiet May morning in 1943, a fire at Salt Lake City’s historic Victory Theater turned deadly, claiming the lives of three firefighters and leaving a legacy of sacrifice that still echoes today.

In 1909, Minot firefighter Tom Shields became the city’s first line-of-duty death after a gasoline tank explosion during a blaze at the Daily Optic newspaper building caused injuries that claimed his life five days later.

On March 4, 1949, a devastating fire at the Woolworth Department Store in Charleston, West Virginia, led to the tragic loss of seven firefighters when the first floor collapsed into the burning basement.

Edward Peed, a member of the Salamander Fire Company, was the first recorded firefighter to die in the line of duty in North Carolina when he was fatally injured battling a warehouse fire in Washington, NC, in 1902.

Explore the devastating Grand Theatre fire of 1917, which claimed the life of Battalion Chief Fred G. Gilham, injured nine firefighters, and destroyed a cherished Seattle landmark.

Coffeyville firefighters Moore and Jones, who lost their lives in the Florea Drug Store fire sparked by Christmas decorations on December 9, 1919.

On November 15, 1942, six Boston firefighters died in a collapse at a five-alarm building fire.

Acting Battalion Chief George A. Jacques and Firefighter Frederick W. Herrmann died of asphyxiation on October 28, 1938 after fighting a basement fire the night before.

On September 3, 1963, a tragic accident at the Shady Grove Sewer Lift Station in Bossier City claimed the lives of two firefighters and two water department workers due to toxic gas exposure.

On August 2, 1978, 6 FDNY firefighters died in a roof collapse as they were fighting a fire at the Waldbaum’s Supermarket in Brooklyn.

On July 9, 1953 fourteen New Tribes Mission firefighters and one U.S. Forest Service firefighter were killed while fighting the Rattlesnake Fire in the Mendocino National Forest.