Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Fallen firefighters' families mark 75 years

"THREE DIE IN $300,000 FIRE," the top headline in the Jan. 11, 1934 edition of The Aurora Daily Beacon-News proclaimed. What the headline didn't -- couldn't -- report was that this fire at a downtown Aurora department store would carry the legacy as the deadliest in Aurora Fire Department history.

Seventy-five years ago this week, fire tore through the Woolworth 5- and 10-cent store building on South Broadway. Three firefighters were killed while battling the blaze. The newspaper reported three other firefighters were injured, along with a police officer and several civilians "in brave fight to save the Broadway business district from flames ... "


RELATED STORIES• Jan. 12, 2008: Remembering the fatal blaze of '34
On Monday, firefighters paid tribute to their lost brothers while family members of those who died looked on.

Aurora Regional Fire Museum link:
http://www.auroraregionalfiremuseum.org/

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