W. T. Grant fire
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| Date | November 5th, 1973 |
|---|---|
| Time | 12:47pm |
| Location | 37 E. Washington Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States |
| Coordinates | 39.767030, -86.156274 |
The W. T. Grant fire was a major conflagration in downtown Indianapolis on which sparked in the early afternoon hours of November 5th, 1973. It was one of the most extensive and costliest commercial fires in the city's history, totaling at around $15 million (1973) worth of damages, affecting 15 buildings and 84 Individual businesses with the resulting fire or water damage.
Background
The W. T. Grant of Indianapolis was located at the corner of E. Washington Street and Pennsylvania Street downtown. The building in question a five-story structure built in the late 1910s after a previous devastating fire destroyed the previous building. It opened in the early 1910s as the company was expanding, and stayed in business until 1971 as a result of declining business and the rise of newer, more popular local stores in the area. The building was scheduled for demolition in December 1973 or January 1974, with preparations starting as early as September. At the time of the fire, there were several tanks of propane in the building, as well as a small homeless population that had taken refuge inside. The Thomas building nextdoor was several floor taller, with several offices on the upper levels and a jeweler on the first floor that housed a large and highly-explosive oxygen tank.
The fire
In the early afternoon of November 5th, 1973, propane tanks within the fourth floor of the building ignited shortly after 12pm local time. Theories vary wildly as to why the tanks exploded, ranging from a small fire by some of the building's inhabitants for warmth, to an electrical fault. At 12:47pm, the first call was made to the fire department by an office worker in the neighboring Thomas building reporting smoke coming from the fourth floor. Various other calls were made in short succession afterwards, with the first engine companies arriving three minutes after the initial call. The first firefighters on-scene reported heavy smoke showing from the building, prompting a second alarm at 12:52. At 12:56, the first of several calls were received reporting that the fire had spread to the Thomas building next door. Several more alarms were declared in rapid succession, reaching a peak of 60 fire apparatus on the scene with nearly 200 accompanying firefighters. By
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