CHELSEA - CIVILIAN DEATHS FROM FIRE
1877	September 6, 1877 for a dwelling fire at 86 Shurtleff Street owned by T. Cunningham and occupied by W. L. Hayden. The clothing of a Mary Cronin caught fire from a stove and she was fatally burned.
1886	On Friday, December 10, 1886 at 4:20 A.M. a fire in a three story brick building at 9 Congress Avenue, owned by the Thomas Cunningham heirs and occupied by Mr. Tarbox as a bakery was caused by a kettle of fat boiling over. Peter Brennan, an employee, received severe burns which proved fatal.
1890	April 24, 1890, box 21 at 5:45 A. M. Fire in a two and one half story wooden dwelling house at no. 78 Poplar Street. The house was owned by a Mrs. Penniman and occupied by James Banks, Miss Hattie Huddleston and a Mrs. Lewis. The fire was caused by the explosion of a kerosene lamp. The fire was confined to the attic in which Mrs. Lewis lost her life by suffocation.
1892	August 22, 1892, box 25. Fire in a two and one half story wooden dwelling at 156-8 Broadway owned by Pease and heirs. Mr. Thomas Fitzgerald of 158 Broadway was evidently suffocated before the alarm was given and was burned to death. Cause of the fire was a spark from a smokers pipe. October 19, 1892, box 15. Fire in a two and one half story wooden dwelling at 53 Williams Street, owned and occupied by Henry Smith. Mrs. Mary Steinburg, whose clothing was ignited by the breaking of a kerosene lamp, the unfortunate woman being so terribly burned that she died soon after reaching the R. S. Frost Hospital.
1896	Although no direct deaths from fire ocurred in 1896, dentist F. D. Carlton was severly burned by the explosion of a vulcanizer on November 5, 1896. The fire ocurred in a three story brick dwelling at 176 Chestnut Street where Mr. Carlton was a resident.
1897	During this year five persons lost their lives at fires. Three from oil lamps and two from clothing catching fire from stoves. Several others were severly burned at the same fires but recovered. On January 6, 1897 at 5:09 P.M. a slight fire ocurred in a dwelling at 213 Second Street owned by P. B. Kiernan and occupied by Charles O'Donnell. Miss O'Donnell was fatally burned from a broken lamp. On July 7, 1897 at 7:20 P.M., box 18. Fire in a three story wooden dwelling at 7 Elsworth Street. The building was owned by William Golding and occupied by P. Murphy. Mr. Murphy burned to death from an overturned lamp. On July 26, 1897 at 4:20 P.M. a fire ocurred at a dwelling at 96 Washington Avenue. The building was owned by J. Carrol and occupied by M. Hoffenburg. A girls clothes caught fire from a stove and she was fatally burned. On September 29, 1897 box 24 was sounded for a slight fire at 152 Arlington Street in a dwelling owned by D. Malone and occupied by S. Eustis. Mrs. Eustis was fatally burned from an overturned lamp. On November 15, 1897 at 9:50 A. M. a fire ocurred in a brick building at 14 Elm Street owned by G. L. Montague and occupied by J. Turner. Miss Mary Turner was fatally burned when her clothing caught fire from the stove.
1898	Three fire related deaths ocurred in Chelsea during 1898. Two women were burned to death, one by fooling with a lighted oil lamp, the other by using kerosene to hurry a fire in a stove. One boy was killed when he was run over by engine #1 while leaving quarters to respond to an alarm. On June 17, 1898 at 7:44 A. M. A fire in a three story wooden dwelling at 54 Cary Avenue owned by Ellen Marble and occupied by W. Marble. The occupant was fatally burned from kerosene used to kindle a fire.
1899	On January 30, 1899 a fire at 50 Cary Avenue owned by Dr. Sibley and occupied by Frank Crowe. A kettle of fat caught fire fatally buring a woman occupant.
1900	On January 5, 1900 at 4:35 P.M. box 26 was pulled for a fire in the carpenters shop at 174 Division Street. The building was owned by Dr. C. A. Shackford and occupied by Willard Sanborn. A William Erringer was found suffocated from an oil stove. On March 8, 1900 at 11:05 P.M. box 7 for a fire in a wooden dwelling at 2 Cheever Street owned by Mrs. Sarah Rogers and occupied by M. J. Anderson. Mr. Anderson was fatally burned when his stove overheated. On April 3, 1900 at 1:35 P.M. box 16 was sounded for a fire in a brick building on Marginal Street opposite Willow Street and used as a lamp black factory. The building was owned and occupied by Samuel Cabot. A second alarm was sounded at 1:45 P.M. The cause of the fire was an explosion which fatally burned Francis McCormack..
1901	On November 1, 1901 at 8:12 A.M. box 24 for a fire in a brick dwellig at 190 Arlington Street owned by Joseph Aronson and occupied by Barnet Feinstein. Mrs. Feinstein was fatally burned from an oil stove fire.
1905	Four citizens of Chelsea died as a result of burns or suffocation from fires in 1905.
1907	Three citizens lost their lives due to fires in 1907.
1908	19 people perished in the Great Chelsea Fire of 1908
1911	February 20, 1911, at 9:23 A.M., box 44. A fire in a two and one half story dwelling at 143 Bloomingdale Street claimed the life of Samuel O. Jones. The building was owned by George Snow. The fire was caused by the unfortunate man smoking in bed.
1944	Wednesday, December 27, 1944. A fire in a three story brick tenement at 19 Everett Avenue claimed the life of four people. The victims were Mrs. Anna Fowler, Isaac Stein, Barnet Rovner and Nathan Orkin.
1978	On New Year's Eve, January 1, 1978 a three alarm blaze at 172 - 174 Pearl Street claimed the lives of a veteran Chelsea Fire Captain, two young brothers, and their babysitter, in a tragedy that has stunned the city. Dead due to the fire are Fire Captain James E. Trainor, 53, who suffered a fatal heart attack while fighting the blaze; the two youngsters, Dennis Elliot, 4, and his brother Michael, 2 1/2; and their babysitter, Walter Juskiewicz, 26, of East Boston, a former Chelsea resident. Frantic efforts to revive Captain Trainor, the two youngsters, and Juskiewicz proved fruitless. A third youngster, a three month old baby, Sean Viele, a cousin of the Elliots, was saved from the blaze. See the complete story.