Fire truck from Brockton s 1941 Strand Theater tragedy returns to city Share Updated: 5:30 PM EST Mar 10, 2021
Fire truck from Brockton s 1941 Strand Theater tragedy returns to city Share Updated: 5:30 PM EST Mar 10, 2021
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Show Transcript EMILY: REMEMBERING HISTORY IN BROCKTON. 80 YEARS AFTER A DEADLY FIRE TOOK THE LIVES OF 13 FIREFIGHTERS, THE TRAGEDY AT THE STRANDED THEATER IS MARKED AND IS PART OF TODAY’S REMEMBRANCE, A PIECE OF HISTORY HAS RETURNED TO THE CITY. THERE ARE REPORTS OF A FIRE TRUCK THAT FOUND ITS WAY HOME. LIEUTENANT RAYMOND A MITCHELL. IS A HOMECOMING SEVEN DECADES IN THE MAKING. A REMINDER OF ONE OF THE DARKEST DAYS IN THE CITY OF BROCKTON’S HISTORY. MARCH 10, 1941, THE ENGINE RESPONDED TO THE STRAND THEATRE FOR A FIRE IN THE BASEMENT THAT CAUSED THE STRUCTURE TO COLLAPSE, KILLING 13 FIREFIGHTERS INSIDE, INCLUDING FOR MEMBERS INSIDE. FIREFIGHTERS CLIMBED ABOARD THEIR TRUCK THAT DAY AND DID NOT RETURN B
BROCKTON The Strand Theatre, situated in Brockton s bustling downtown business district, was showing the film “Hoosier School Boy,” starring Mickey Rooney, followed by “Secret Evidence,” on Sunday, March 9, 1941.
It was a busy and normal evening for the theater at Main and School streets, which sat 1,685 people.
Hours after the last showing, early into Monday morning, the night custodian, Christopher Moore, discovered a fire in the basement below the candy counter and instructed his helper, Roger Thunert, to activate fire alarm box 1311 at Main and High streets.
The Brockton Fire Department received the box alarm at 12:38 a.m. and sent the first apparatus to the scene. A second alarm followed at 12:44 a.m., and finally a general alarm at 1:19 a.m., bringing all of the city s firefighters to the scene, including those who were off-duty that morning.