In North Dakota blizzard of 1916, firefighters formed ‘ice shield’ to fight fire

These dreaming of a white Christmas acquired greater than they bargained for on Dec. 26, 1916. In what was thought-about on the time the worst storm in 48 years, western North Dakota was bombarded with 20 inches of snow and 36 mph wind gusts.

The snowfall started early afternoon on Christmas Day, and continued by means of the evening, dropping 18 inches of snow by midday. Trains have been snowbound for practically two days, and taxis and automobiles in Bismarck have been compelled to drive on sidewalks in locations the place snow was too deep on the streets. It wasn’t lengthy earlier than journey within the metropolis was restricted totally to sleighs and bobsleds. As a result of streets have been completely impassable from downtown to the capitol, even the governor and different state officers bundled up for a sleigh experience to their places of work.

Maybe the sleigh experience was chilly, however businessmen might work of their heat places of work. Different employees, nevertheless, needed to battle the weather. Because the storm raged, adults discovered themselves busy with making snow tunnels and ice fortresses—actions which can be normally reserved for youngsters and their imaginations. However these adults needed to make their snow creations on a a lot bigger scale. Snow plows have been busy throughout the state carving tunnels by means of 13- to 15-foot tall snow banks for trains. In the meantime, Bismarck firefighters confronted a bigger job: forming a large ice protect on a constructing to guard it from a downtown hearth.

Late on the evening of Dec. 26, a hearth broke out in downtown Bismarck. Firefighters have been known as right down to battle the flames that have been fanned by the sturdy gale. Combating hearth with water was tough within the subzero temperatures, as water froze immediately to their garments. “Firemen in jackets of ice, shifting about as human icicles, fought the hearth below the course of Chief Thompson in a blizzard thought-about the worst since 1896,” reported the Bismarck Tribune.

The hearth was already burning a couple of quarter of a block and firemen struggled to maintain it from spreading. The one method to cease the flames, in response to the Tribune, was for the firemen to show their water hoses to a constructing in path of the flames.

“As water lashed the constructing, it froze nearly immediately, stopping the flames from the yards from taking a maintain,” mentioned the Tribune. “This morning … the construction appeared as if a short lived ice palace had been erected by the firemen to stave their drive … The coat of ice given this constructing held the hearth in its limits of devastation, and was a exceptional piece of labor on the a part of the firemen.”

For many who skilled the blizzard of 1916, the lyrics, “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, similar to those I used to know,” simply won’t have the identical that means for others. That is very true for many who are disgruntled by the reminiscences of brown Christmases of the previous couple of years!

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