CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Tuesday will be a solemn reminder of a tragic fire that took place in the City of Charleston 76 years ago.
On Tuesday, a ceremony will be held for the 76th anniversary of the fire that took place at Charleston’s former Woolworth Department Store that killed seven firefighters and injured fifteen.
“It’s something that you have to remember,” Charleston Fire Captain Austin Smith said on 580 Live Monday. “We don’t like to think back on tragedies, but they really do need to be remembered on a regular basis so that we can learn from them.”
The deadly blaze broke at 205 Capitol Street at the former Woolworth’s Store on March 4, 1949, where Rock City Cake Company now sits.
Woolworth Fire (WCHS-TV)
Smith said the city’s firefighters were not aware of what they were in for when responding to the blaze that day.
“The firefighters who arrived there, they thought it was just a typical fire, a small, light smoke fire, no big deal, but unbeknownst to themselves, that fire had been raging in the basement for a long time and that smoke had just been wisping out,” he said.
Smith said the first floor of the building gave way and collapsed, sending the firefighters into the smoke and flames.
Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin said their legacy can not be forgotten.
“That’s something that, as Austin says, we need to continue to do,” she said. “These were public servants.”
“It was a tragic, tragic event,” Goodwin continued.
A memorial plaque now sits on the building at the corner of Capitol and Quarrier Streets.
The blaze is known as one of the worst fires in the city’s history.
However, Smith said they have all learned a lot since then from that tragic blaze, what to do, what not to do, and all of the unexpected circumstances that can arise from a fire in a building.
“The fact of getting in and doing building inspections, knowing pre-plans of the building, having that constant training, and expecting the unexpected and being prepared for it,” Smith said. “And then also the resources to back you up, that whole entire company was stuck.”
Smith said they now take all of the new recruits by the plaque, give them a history lesson, tell them the story, and remind them of how vital it is to prepare for the worst case scenario.