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Los Angeles Fire Department
Historical Archive


In Memory of
Fireman Adolph Hermanson
Engine Company 10

216 South Los Angeles Street
Died December 30, 1906
Fell from fifth floor window
during structure fire.


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Engine Company 10

216 South Los Angeles Street


Engine Company No. 10---South Hill street near Sixteenth street
Circa  1900
Source: Los Angeles Fire Department Photo Album Collection

   On December 30, 1906, the day following the first Relief Association meeting, Fireman Adolph Hermanson of Engine Company 10 was fatally injured while fighting a fire.  He fell from a top floor window to the rear alley of the five-story brick building at 216-222 South Los Angeles Street, in the wholesale district.  The fire, discovered around 9:15 p.m., by a night watchman, originated in the third floor occupancy of Cohn, Goldsmith & Company, dealers in woolen goods.  A three-alarm assignment of apparatus, including the Water Tower 1, (the Gorter), was unable to prevent flames from spreading up to the roof.
    Assistant Chief O'Donnell said Hermanson was dragging a hose toward the rear of the fifth floor.  Stepping backward, he tripped and fell through a window.  Other accounts say Hermanson was knocked out of the window when struck by a hose stream.  Hermanson's bride of only a few weeks received the Relief Association's first death benefit payment.

Source: "A Century of Service" by Paul Ditzel

 


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