IFLODD: Firefighter Memorial


Firefighter Record

Firefighter Details

Name Simon Cooper
Agency Chicago Fire Department
Rank Truckman
Type of Firefighter Career
Age Range [Unknown]
Sex Male
Date of Birth 0/0/0
Date of Death 4/29/1909
Cause of Death Struck by object
Nature of Death Trauma
Attribute of Death [not applicable]
Type of Duty Firefighting operations

Incident Details

Incident Name N/A
Incident City Chicago
Incident State IL
Incident Date 4/29/1909 4:0
Incident Location Industry/ Manufacturing
Incident Attribute Structural collapses , Fires

Incident Summary

On April 29, 1909, Chicago Fire Department Lieutenant Patrick McElligot and Truckman Simon Cooper, both of Truck 3, died in the line of duty while fighting a fire in an Illinois Central Railroad building on South Water Street.

The fire was caused by a lightning strike shortly after 4AM, and the building was enveloped in flames before the first firefighters arrived at the scene. The fire was particularly persistent in an elevator that housed more than 700,000 bushels of grain. McElligot and Cooper were fighting the grain fire when one of the elevator walls collapsed, crushing the two firefighters.

A twelve year veteran of the department, McElligot was survived by his widow and six children.

Funeral services for Cooper were held at Holy Name Cathedral on May 2, and he was buried at St. Boniface Cemetery. He was survived by his widow, mother, and seven siblings.

Citations:

“Death and Injury in Fire,” Chicago Daily Tribune, April 29, 1909.

“Elevator Ruins Yield Body,” Chicago Daily Tribune, April 30, 1909.

Obituary of Simon Cooper, Chicago Daily Tribune, May 1, 1909.


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