Box 191 Memorial (Buffalo, New York)

 memorial, fire service

Located on the corner of North Division & Grosvenor Streets on the former property of a radiator factory is a small memorial consisting of Buffalo Fire Department Call Box 191.

The box was activated on the evening of December 27th, 1983 by a factory employee after an illegal 500-gallon propane tank being moved by a forklift inside the factory was dropped and holed, spewing its entire contents into the two adjoining warehouses that made up the factory. Responding to the call at 2020hrs were a full assignment of nearby Buffalo Fire Department units; Engine 32, Truck 5, Engine 1, a BC Supply Rescue and 3rd Battalion. Arriving onscene and reporting that there was no fire showing, the BFD units set about staging their rigs, with Truck 5, a tillered aerial, parked in front of the warehouse entrance on North Division St.

37 seconds after Battalion 6 reported onscene at 2023hrs the propane gas in the warehouse found an ignition source and detonated, causing an explosion which completely leveled the four-story warehouse and several adjoining buildings, started numerous large fires and broke windows on buildings over half a mile away. On the ground, Truck 5 was picked up and thrown 35ft across North Division St. into the front yard of a residential property before being covered in debris, Engine 32 was blown up against a brick wall which then collapsed onto the rig and Engine 1 was flipped over and set aflame with two firefighters trapped inside. The force of the blast and flying debris caused dozens of injuries among the firefighters and the civilians in the area, and caused a second and third alarm to be rung to help control the numerous fires and injuries as a result of the blast.

Dozens of civilians were injured in the blast and subsequent fires, and two factory workers lost their lives. The Buffalo Fire Department lost several pieces of apparatus in the explosion and had nine of its firefighters injured, three critically, however the single greatest loss of life was experienced by Truck 5, which had lost its entire crew.

Dedicated shortly after the debris from the warehouse was removed, the Box 191 Memorial commemorates the five Buffalo Firefighters of Truck 5 lost in the line of duty on December 27th, 1983: Firefighter Michael Austin, Firefighter Michael Catanzaro, Firefighter Matthew Colpoys, Firefighter James Lickfield and Firefighter Anthony Waszkielewicz.

Each year at 2020hrs the Buffalo Fire Department rings out the 1-9-1 alarm in honor of the lost men of Ladder 5.

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