100 years ago in Spokane: Fire in the Peyton Building pharmacy sends many firefighters to the hospital

From our archives,

100 years ago

Spokane’s emergency hospital looked like a wartime poison gas ward following a terrifying fire in a pharmacy in the downtown Peyton Building.

About 50 firefighters, including the fire chief, were overcome by “poisonous gases that belched from the basement” of the chemical-filled storerooms of the Murgittroyd Drug Co.

The city’s entire firefighting force had raced to the Peyton Building after reports of smoke billowing from the windows. They immediately began to rescue people in the rooms above. Fire Lt. Joseph Gump raced up a fire escape through a dense cloud, ran across the roof, and then let himself down by rope to a seventh floor window. There, he tied the rope around Mrs. Elizabeth Depp, 38, and carried her down the extension ladder to the street. The watching crowd broke into “round after round of cheers.”

However, as firefighters approached the basement, they were overcome by what appeared to be the “acid qualities” of the fumes. The fumes caused their throats to burn, their stomachs to cramp, severe headaches and nausea. A doctor said the symptoms were similar to nitric acid poisoning.

The firefighters were treated with ammonia which “cleared the smoke from the air passages,” and then given glycerine to calm their stomachs.Then they were “given a stiff dose of whiskey or brandy as a parting stimulant.”

Every available foot of space in the large ward was filled with recovering firefighters, who said they “had never encountered such terrible smoke.” Many, however, rushed out to join the battle again after they felt steady enough. A few were brought in a second time.