Talk:Cleveland Clinic fire of 1929

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Firefighting

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Cleveland

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to-do[edit]

References:

To-do: Images. Q: 1929 pictures public domain, or is permission needed? {{PD-US}} vs {{PD-Pre1978}} ? Starfallen 17:42, 7 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Toxic gas[edit]

I've just removed a section that refers to the toxic gases emitted during the fire as "bromine," based on rather dubious contemporary newspaper reporting. It's quite obvious that the combustion of nitrocellulose film would produce a mixture of nitrogen oxides such as nitrogen dioxide, which would account for the color of the gas, the lung edema it produced, the discoloration of the victims through the xanthoproteic reaction, etc. However, I can't immediately find a source that explicitly states this to be the case for the Cleveland Clinic fire. If someone turns one up so that the article can make a definitive statement about the gases, it would be most helpful. Choess (talk) 21:37, 4 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the gas giving the yellow-brownish color to the vapour is nitrogen dioxide.--FK1954 (talk) 21:34, 24 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Cleveland Location[edit]

Perhaps the original author could provide the physical and geographical location of the main building of the Clinic in the body of the article. Wasn't the main building at that time at East 93rd Street and Euclid, Cleveland, OH? Anyway, that might make the article more accurate. L. Thomas W. (talk) 16:49, 19 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The original building, no longer the main Clinic building, is still extant. I identified it in the article and provided a link to the current CCF Main Campus Map. Sorry it took a decade to get a reply. JohnGHissong (talk) 14:17, 4 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Ernest Staab?[edit]

There appears to be some conflict as to what happened to Ernest Staab. Specifically:

A photo caption from the Cleveland Memory Project from the Cleveland State University Library (https://clevelandhistorical.org/files/show/5584) suggests that he didn't die after the fire, but continued working for the police department for more than 25 years.
I can't read the entire Gendisasters AP article, but a similar contemporaneous New York Times article (https://www.nytimes.com/1929/05/16/archives/poison-gas-kills-100-in-cleveland-clinic-explosions-spread-fumes.html) says that "Ernest Staab, a policeman directing traffic on the corner, rushed into the structure and started to carry out a woman. He staggered, fell, regained his feet, and then dropped again. Fellow-officers found his body fiteen minutes later." The article might be inaccurate given how soon after the fire it was written.
An article on May 15 AP article that appeared in the May 16 Washington Post says he died at the hospital, "The policeman collapsed after carrying out his twenty-first burden. He followed those he rescued to an emergency cot and died a few hours later at Mount Sinai Hospital." (LIFE GIVEN MOVING 21 LIVING AND DEAD: CLEVELAND POLICEMAN SACRIFICES HIMSELF IN WORK AMID DEADLY GAS. GIANT IS LADDER BASE. (1929, May 16). The Washington Post (1923-1954) Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/life-given-moving-21-living-dead/docview/149968527/se-2 )
Bellamy (1995, pg. 226) seems to support the Memory Project caption, "Patrolman Ernest Staab was near the Clinic when the fire started and rushed into the building. He pulled 21 bodies out before he collapsed. Like many of the day's heroes who survived, he paid a price: he was subject to fainting spells for months after the accident. (And Staab proved to be a creature of heroic habit. Before he retired in 1954 he also rescued three children from the path of a drunken driver.)" (Bellamy II, John Stark. They Died Crawling, and Other Tales of Cleveland Woe: True Stories of the Foulest Crimes and Worst Disasters in Cleveland History. Cleveland: Gray & Company, 1995.)
An Ernest Staab was reported to live in Cleveland per the 1940 Census (https://www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/Ohio/Ernest-R-Staab_10z7p1).

I'm not sure where a better source would come from that nails this down (perhaps an obituary). –66.27.90.181 (talk) 11:48, 8 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

My cursory searches didn't turn up an obit, but he did not die immediately following the disaster. See https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107200876/creeping-death-still-pursues/ - Eureka Lott 16:39, 8 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Ooo that's a very nice reference. Thanks! –66.27.90.181 (talk) 03:33, 9 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]