Tragic fires and Charleston share a long, storied past

But none has been as deadly as Monday's blaze

Fire has shaped Charleston since before it was even a city, but Monday night's tragedy stands out because it involved so much loss of life from a single fire that burned two buildings down.

Nine city firefighters lost their lives Monday when the roof of the Sofa Super Store on Savannah Highway collapsed suddenly, resulting in the greatest loss of life than any other blaze since the city reorganized its fire protection into a professional, paid department in 1888.

In the city's early history, fire often swept through blocks of downtown, claiming hundreds of homes, outbuildings and an unknown number of lives.

But those fires are remembered more for their scars to the city's physical fabric, not so much for their death tolls. When the great fire of 1861 swept over 540 acres downtown — destroying 575 homes, churches and stores along a mile from East Bay to Gibbes streets — no one died.

Denny Stiles, a tour guide who discusses the city's fires and disasters, said Monday's fire shares little in common with the city's earlier catastrophes.

"The fires in Charleston's history have generally taken out whole neighborhoods but have not been destructive in terms of loss of life," he said. "This is a compound tragedy because they went into the building looking for someone who might not have been there."

Charleston suffered devastating fires in 1698, 1740, 1778 and 1812. In 1838, more than 1,000 homes and outbuildings in Ansonborough went up in flames, according to Walter J. Fraser's history of the city.

The city's deep understanding of fire's fury helped it create some firsts.

Charlestonian William Pinckney founded the first fire insurance company established in the American colonies. Unfortunately, the Friendly Society for the Mutual Insuring of Homes against Fire At Charles Town was established just a few years before the 1740 blaze wiped it out.

After the 1886 earthquake, the city razed its old fire departments and built three modern fire stations for its new professional department. These stations allowed firefighters on duty to sleep upstairs until an alarm sounded, prompting them to slide down a brass pole to the horse-drawn engines. The stations also were wired for alarms to be transmitted through telegraph and phone lines.

The city has said its fire station at Went-worth and Meeting streets is the oldest working fire station in the nation.

During the 20th century, Charleston had some dramatic blazes, including a 1955 fire at the port's Tidewater Terminals. Described as the worst waterfront fire in Charleston's history, it caused $2.5 million in damage and killed a terminal employee and a city police officer.

The last Charleston firefighter to die in the line of duty was in 1965, when Henry Fosberry fell from the roof of Stono Park Elementary School.

In 1998, the city was one of 26 among the nation's 88,000 fire departments to earn the top ranking from Insurance Services Offices Inc.

Tenisha Waldo of The Post and Courier contributed to this report. Reach Robert Behre at 937-5771 or rbehre@postandcourier.com.