Morning history. Let’s take a deep dive into a major fire in the Bull City back in the city. See also comments for additional notes.

On Saturday night, July 8, 1944, one of the largest fires in downtown Durham’s history destroyed an entire block of buildings along “Tobacco Row.”

The first call was received at 9:12 p.m. at the corner of Morgan Street and Rigsbee, where a “blaze was engulfing the Big Four Warehouse,” reported the Durham Morning Herald on July 11.

Spread by a breeze, the flames were fanned across an alley to a frame dwelling that ignited and then spread to the Banner Warehouse. Fire soon spread to the rest of the buildings on the block.

Mutual aid was requested from Camp Butner, which at that time was a large department with eight fire stations. Other area departments also responded as soon as they heard about the fire on the radio.

Mutual Aid Arrived

The run card included every piece of Durham apparatus (and all firemen including presumably off-duty) plus three engines from Camp Butner. Plus personnel from Chapel Hill, Raleigh-Durham Army Air Base (fire chief and men), Raleigh (fire chief and six men), Roxboro (fire chief and assistant chief). State Fire Marshal Sherwood Brockwell also came to the scene, as did personnel from a demolition squad at Camp Butner.

Also assisting were military men and units from Butner, Duke Finance School, and Chapel Hill, who were on furlough, as well as hundreds of citizens, whose efforts were also noted in the Durham Morning Herald on July 11.

“Not to be undone by servicemen who helped firemen handle fire hose that wriggled madly from tremendous water pressure and relived heat-stricken firemen, hundreds of civilians […] worked practically in the mouth of the inferno.”

The total firefighting force of firemen, servicemen, and civilians was estimated at 4,000. And they fought the fire for three hours before it was brought under control.

Thousands of Feet of Hose

The firefighting efforts used 9,000 feet of hose that included 15 hand lines and a “turret nozzle” from a fire truck. At least one section of hose was struck by a vehicle. Reported the Durham Sun on July 11, Carlton Allen of Broadway Street was charged with driving a truck over hose at the fire. He pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $580 in court costs.

As electric lines sparked with bright green flames, news reports noted, power to the area was shut down. Nearby blocks were also impacted by the power outage, such as the patrons at the Carolina Theatre, who were told that there was no danger and they could leave if they wished.

And the conflagration purportedly drew thousands of cars to the scene, “churning around corners, down dirt streets and massed for miles along paved thoroughfares,” added the Durham Morning Herald on July 11.

At least once instance of looting was reported. Police apprehended two youths who were looting the Brock Motor Company, after it had been gutted by the blaze. They were charged with larceny of a battery and battery cable.

Exposure Protection

Several families in the nearby 500 block of Rigsbee Avenue moved most of their furniture and household items into the street, fearing that the fire would spread to their block and their homes. The fire did spread across streets at several points, but no buildings apparently caught fire. However, several buildings outside the burned block received considerable water damage from the protective hose streams.

The block that burned measured 350 feet long on Rigsbee Avenue, 450 feet long on Morgan Street, 375 feet long on Foster Street, and 450 feet long on Seminary Street.

With the exception of two brick buildings in the southwest corner, all other structures on the block were gutted by the flames.

Initial estimates of the damage to the buildings and their contents ranged from over $250,000, said Fire Chief Frank Bennett, to as high as $500,000.

List of Destroyed Buildings

Banner Warehouse, 214-16-18-20 Morgan Street, valued at $25,120
Big Four Warehouse, corner of Morgan and Rigsbee, valued at $26,900
Central Leaf Tobacco Company, 314-316 Foster Street, valued at $11,700
Betts residence, 212 Morgan Street, valued at $800
Farmers Supply, 315 Rigsbee Avenue, valued at $4,625
Brock Motor Company, 310-312 Foster Street, valued at $5,000
Avalon Café building, valued at $9,000

Also damaged or destroyed were the stables of R. E. Dillard. Some of the animals were rescued, but at least four horses and 12 cows died in the fire.

Also damaged was the Noland Company building, valued at $10,375.

Aftermath

On July 10, the Durham Morning Herald reported that day after brought “milling throngs of people—children, adults, boys, girls, soldiers—[who] twined about the razed block all day […] in a never-end cord, staring morbidly at the still-smoking ruins of two warehouses [and other buildings].”

On July 12, the Durham Morning Herald reported that a city public works crew had assisted firefighters on Sunday afternoon with extinguishing the fires that were left smoldering in the ruins.

And a total of 40 city employees worked all day Sunday and Monday to clear away the debris from the fire, including walls that were left standing. Once the structures were condemned by the city building inspector, the standing walls were demolished with public works department bulldozers.

The destruction of the two tobacco warehouses also had an impact on plans and expectations for the upcoming annual tobacco market sale, which opened in September. The details of those impacts, however, are not sufficiently understood by this author to be summarized here.

Colorful Commentary

Reported the Herald-Sun on July 9, “The entire blaze was a gigantic spectacle which resembled the setting for a Hollywood production of stupendous proportions. As the electric lines around the block were eaten away by the ever-growing flames, tremendous flashes of current shot 25 feet or more out over the streets, and there was a scramble by fire-fighters to escape electrocution.”

“From the tops of surrounding buildings, after the fire had been brought under control, the entire block still was a scene of destruction. Throughout the entire area covered by the block, at jagged and irregular intervals, huge upright posts stood nakedly, with the fire still devouring them.”

“Above the shouting and roar of the flames, at time, could be heard the hear-deafening hiss of the steam which resulted as the fire-fighters poured ton after ton of water into the inferno. The whole block, located in the heart of the city, might well have been a section of Berlin or some other European Axis-controlled city after a roaring raid by Allied bombers.”

Department Size

How big was the fire department that year? The 1944 city directory listing for the fire department noted a force comprised of:

Sources

• Durham Herald-Sun, July 9, 1944 – Fire Wipes Out Block in Heart of City
• Durham Sun, July 10, 1944 – Warehouse Block Blaze Damage May Exceed $250,000
• Durham Morning Herald, July 10, 1944 – Durham Fire Damage May Exceed $250,000
• Durham Morning Herald, July 11, 1944 – Police Investigating Theory Destructive Warehouse Fire May Have Been Arsonist’s Job
• Durham Sun, July 11, 1944 – Chief Bennett Appreciates Aid to Durham
• Durham Sun, July 11, 1944 – Driver Who Ran Over Fire Hose is Taxed
• Durham Morning Herald, July 12, 1944 – Debris Left by Fire Rapidly Cleared by 40 City Employees
• Durham Morning Herald, July 12, 1944 – Need For Third Set of Weed Buyers For Local Market Grows
• North Carolina City Directories – https://www.digitalnc.org/collections/city-directories/
• Open Durham – Big 4 Warehouse – Morgan and Rigsbee, https://www.opendurham.org/buildings/big-4-warehouse-morgan-and-rigsbee

Notes:

• Newspaper articles via newspapers.com.