CEREMONY, MOMENT OF SILENCE FOR 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF WOOLWORTH BUILDING FIRE

Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin joined the Charleston Fire Department and Charleston firefighter’s local union 317 to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Woolworth Building fire with a moment of silence, bell ringing and wreath laying.  Woolworth’s, located on the corner of Quarrier and Capitol streets, caught fire in the early morning hours of March 4, 1949. While battling the blaze, seven members of the Charleston Fire Department lost their lives and at least 15 additional firefighters were injured, two critically. It was the biggest casualty count for a fire department on a blaze in the United States at the time. This remains the largest loss of life for the Charleston Fire Department. The names of these seven firemen were memorialized on a bronze marker that still hangs on the building that now stands at the exact location where they died.