GARY: ARSON WORLD (PART 4)
The Great Gary Arson of 1997 (Part 2)
578 Broadway
Monday, October 13, 1997–12:10 A.M.
When the fire started around 11:30am, most residents of Genesis Towers — an elderly retirement home that was formally The Hotel Gary — were sound asleep. They did not notice cloudy skies glowing red-orange in the night. They did not notice dank, putrid smoke rolling down the streets, caressing their windows. They did not hear the blaring sirens of three-dozen firetrucks and squad cars gathered just yards away battling a raging blaze. The inferno was increasing in intensity and destruction — not an eye peeked open. Not even Genesis Towers security officers on duty noticed anything amiss; locked away safe in a fortress…protected from a troubled city in a 10-story castle built long before most could remember.
Before we talk about Genesis Towers, let’s go over something very important. High winds remained an important factor as the 600–700 blocks of Broadway burned. There were numerous hazards to look out for — one of which were flying embers. Burning embers can be blown up to 24 miles ahead of a fire and move up to 15 mph in most wind-driven fires. It’s bad enough when a steady wind blows embers in one direction. However if wind direction suddenly changes — that can be extremely dangerous…even deadly.
There is a behavior of wind-driven fires known as an ‘ember attack’.
An ember attack happens when burning debris is carried by the wind and lands on or around structures and people. The embers can be anything: leaves, twigs, paper, bark or garbage — whatever can be taken into the air. Embers glow hot and can remain so even after the main fire has been put out. A cloud of embers can be as hot or hotter than the fire that created it. Embers are the most common way spot-fires are started in wind-driven fire scenarios. This could have been the culprit for the burning of Gary Memorial Auditorium…though the timing is dubious.
Police officers and firefighters were being injured by flying embers. It was a war zone. Red hot debris as big as hands and heads blew every which way; in faces, on backs and arms, blowing inside of suits and trucks… wreaking havoc on equipment, etc. The Red Cross, local EMTs and other medical personnel were called in from Gary, Merrillville and Hammond to treat injured emergency personnel right there at the scene of the fires. Additionally, local volunteers came in private vehicles or food trucks to serve food and water to everyone working that night. It was a show of inter-municipal cooperation unlike anything seen since.
Genesis Towers. 12:00–12:30am
Without proper context it is hard to say with certainty how what happened next occurred. What was reported is that the wind blew burning sparks and white-hot embers from the violent fires raging down the street to the rooftop of Genesis Towers. This event went unseen by everyone on the ground because of smoke gathering in the area. The roof was undergoing renovation or had just finished being repaired. Regardless of the matter, flammable building materials were left out on the roof. Embers ignited these materials, yet this had the effect of delaying the actual roof burning by about 30 minutes. Hallways near the upper floors slowly began to build up with dark potent smoke from toxic chemicals, insulation and other roofing materials. Elderly residents and building staff were completely oblivious to the danger.
A police officer guarding the intersection of 6th & Broadway finally noticed the fire on the roof. He ran to find the Gary fire chief. Firefighters and police looked behind them and saw the roof of Genesis Towers smoldering. A pit opened in their stomachs. The situation was getting too big way too fast. Something needed to be done, so the fire chief organized a small team to enter the retirement home and conduct an evacuation. They began knocking on the entrance. The security officer’s face was in complete shock as he realized what was occurring outside. With building staff’s help, the small team of emergency workers attempted to go through the entire building — starting from the upper floors.
The team was broken up into an even smaller group at this point. One group was tasked with awakening residents — the other tasked with investigating the fire on the roof. Rescuers had a particularly hard time waking people up. Residents gave them a very hard time; either not being concerned about the fire and/or not wanting to leave the warmth and safety of their apartments. Some were immobile and sickly, requiring assistance to leave the burning building. The challenge was daunting and assistance was in short supply…as well as time.
As if the night could not get any worse, curious onlookers began trickling in; awakened by the fires and loud sirens of the ever increasing stream of firetrucks from other towns. Passers-by stopped their cars to gawk at the hellish scene unfolding in front of them. So many people crowded the danger zone guest firefighters began to question Gary’s chiefs about their ability to secure the area and protect firefighters at the same time. Gary’s fire chief was preoccupied with the insured safety of Genesis Towers’ elderly residents.
Up until now there were no civilians to really worry about. Now there were potentially a hundred or more elderly civilians to evacuate. Mayor Scott King arrived to the scene and held a short meeting with all the command structure present. It was decided all police would solely maintain crowd control and all firefighters would solely fight the fires after the evacuation of the Genesis Towers. Mayor King got US Steel to donate vehicles to the evacuation effort. Gary Public Transportation Company donated city buses. EMS companies donated ambulances. All the extra vehicles were used to transport evacuated Genesis Tower residents to the Genesis Center —an entertainment facility — two blocks away. City officials scrambled to get the Genesis Center opened up. The extra civilian personnel eased some of the stress off of firefighters.
The group investigating the fire on the roof went into a panic. The fire had finished burning through the construction material and was buring the roof itself. Frantic radio calls went out. The fire had gotten so bad, they feared the roof might collapse. Two firemen were almost trapped in the fire. Joining the chorus of calls were requests for stretchers and wheelchairs. Chaotic is a nice word to use to describe these events. Meanwhile rescuers were struggling with evacuating the building.
Matters got even worse. The old H. Gordons & Sons building, on the corner of 7th & Broadway, suddenly caught fire. The smoke from downtown caused Indiana State Police to shut down the toll road (I-90). If smoke closed down the toll road, imagine visibility in the fire zone. It was near zero. Travelers on I-65 not only could see the smoke, but they could actually see the fire itself.
575 Washington Street
Gary City Methodist Church. 12:30–1:00 A.M.
City Methodist Church was built by Reverend William G. Seaman. The process began with monetary and land donations made by US Steel starting in 1925. The church, completed in 1926, had a beautiful sanctuary, classrooms, auditorium, a fellowship garden, banquet hall, movie theater, storefronts, a gymnasium and a rooftop garden. City Methodist fell victim to a fleeing congregation during the 1970’s resulting from steel mill layoffs and ‘white flight’. It shut its doors in January of 1975 and was sold to Indiana University — who promptly proceeded to do nothing with it. It was briefly used by another congregation, as a dance studio and a halfway home for poverty stricken children and single parents… yet these efforts yielded no fruit. The building fell to neglect and was forgotten for almost 20 years, ultimately becoming property of the City of Gary at some point before 1997.
Flames from Genesis Towers roof whipped ferociously in the wind. It is said that crackling hot embers were taken into the air and deposited onto the wooden rooftop of the adjacent Gary City Methodist. The wooden roof succumbed to the laws of nature and began to burn. Winds relentlessly fed oxygen to the hungry flames, and within minutes the kindling roof was ablaze. First the sides and gutters burned — then flames crept west and north across the roof, burning off tiles. With great speed the fires then spread from the roof to the upper floors of the church. The structure burst into violent flames, licking angrily at the sky.
It was after 12:30am — a little over one hour after the first report of fire — when Hobart Fire Department arrived to the scene. GFD directed Hobart to help put out the blaze that just flared up at City Methodist — and also protect any buildings in the surrounding area. They were no match against the greedy fires. Hobart’s fire chief supervised eight men — eight men to battle a humongous church fire. They battled the wind as it blew burning hot sparks all over the place. Embers hit the firefighters in their faces and scorched their uniforms. It was the largest fire most members of that department had ever seen.
The roof had only been burning a short time when it failed. It collapsed on the upper levels; sending bricks, gigantic support beams, mortar, nails, glass, and other debris high into the air and then onto the streets — onto the firemen as well. The upper levels could not handle the extra weight and — already being weakened by fire — they too gave way. I’m sure some of the firemen would have rather been evacuating Genesis Tower.
“I’ve seen some large fires, but nothing of that magnitude.” — Chesterton Fire Department Chief John Jarka
Bank One Building
525 Massachusetts Street, 1:30 A.M.
200 Northwest Indiana firefighters, throngs of emergency service workers working with the Gary Police Department and city officials blanketed the Historic District of downtown Gary, fighting a battle unlike which had never been seen before in the region. Civilians — mulling around from the start of the ordeal — further complicated matters. Drawn in by the noise and smoke, they gathered at the borders of the fire line — which spread steadily away from downtown. Firemen — already stretched thin — were tasked with watching and preventing other buildings from catching fire. This placed firefighters from other cities and municipalities in direct contact with the locals.
The small crowd ballooned to around 100 people. Most of them were young men from the surrounding neighborhoods. They began to threaten the white firefighters and started speaking about looting and rioting. This is not an ideal situation but these were economically oppressed young men seeing this as an opportunity to take out their frustrations on the city itself. Firefighters called in Gary’s police chief. The police chief put officers on crowd control duty earlier than they wanted to.
Before the police could organize, an opportunist from the crowd threw a Molotov cocktail at the Bank One building. The Bank One building was formerly an auto garage, which was remodeled into a drive-in bank. The Bank of Indiana was the original owner, who took over the property in 1968. Bank One occupied the building in the 70s.
The improvised explosive landed on the roof of the building, exploded and began to burn. Police rounded the crowds up, but not before some threw rocks and bricks at one of the bank’s windows, shattering it. Police chased the rock throwers from the scene. The Molotov cocktail did not create any significant damage to the bank…but the agitators were making a bad situation worse. GPD were now tasked with protecting the firefighters and protecting the few businesses still in operation left untouched by fire. They armed themselves with Billy clubs and patrolled Broadway and surrounding blocks for the rest of the night on foot.
Stay tuned for part 3…