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The Holland Tunnel Fire of 1949

The worst fire in the Holland Tunnel's 77-year history occurred on the morning of May 13, 1949, when a chemical truck loaded with 80 drums of carbon disulfide mysteriously exploded on the New Jersey side of the south tube. The initial blast sent a huge ball of fire mushrooming against the tunnel's ceiling. The fire quickly spread to other vehicles. Within minutes that section of tunnel had filled with smoke, intense heat, flames and noxious gases.

The blaze immediately stopped all traffic in the tunnel and severed telegraph, telephone and television cables, interrupting most of New York's communication with the rest of the world - which also delayed the emergency call to the Fire Department. Within 20 minutes, Rescue 1 had arrived at the scene. Engines 13, 24, 27 and 30 and Ladder Companies 8 and 20 arrived shortly afterwards. Firefighters worked in acrid fumes and intense heat for two hours before they finally extinguished the fire. The heat was so intense that it had fused many vehicles together into one piece of metal. Tiles and huge slabs of reinforced concrete were torn from the walls and ceiling. In the end, the tunnel's ventilation system provided a mixed blessing: although it supplied more oxygen to the fire, it also reduced the concentration of toxic vapors.

The potential for panic among the long line of vehicles that trailed the truck was immense, but fortunately people remained calm as they were evacuated by firefighters. In the end, 66 people were injured but no one was killed, a fact that fire officials at the time described as nothing short of miraculous. The fire caused an estimated $600,000 in damage to the tunnel. As a result, the Port Authority adopted a strict series of rules on the transportation of hazardous materials.

 

 

This story was adapted from an article in the July 1949 issue of WNYF.

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