A Deep Dive into 2 Non-Water Floods

The Dublin Whiskey Fire

    This flood and fire took place on June 18th, 1975 in Dublin, Ireland. The fire originated in the storehouse of a bar called Laurence Malone, where 1.2 million litres (315 thousand gallons) of pure whiskey were stored. The cause of the fire is unknown, and our only guess is that it caught on fire between 4:30pm when the storehouse was checked and 8:30pm when alarms were raised. The fire caused the barrels of whiskey to explode from the heat and stream out of the burning building, catching fire in the process, and becoming a flood of what is essentially liquid fire.

    The citizens were first alerted when the fire spread to a nearby pig pen, causing the pigs inside to squeal uproariously. By the time the citizens began to evacuate, 3 different streets in the city were already demolished, rapidly spreading the fire and flood. The evacuation process was surprisingly efficient for the time, with the mayor commending the emergency personnel who made the escape possible. He is quoted as saying: "The time given for escape in some places during the progress of the fire was so short, I was apprehensive that some people should be left in danger in the garrets and cellars of the district. But on inquiry I was happy to learn that no life was lost during the great conflagration."

    However, despite the amazing evacuation, there was one small issue:  This is a flood of whiskey in a city known for its alcohol culture and high rates of alcoholism (at the time).

    As they were evacuating their burning homes, people noticed that the flood was made of whiskey and began using their hats, boots, and other vessels to gather the alcohol to drink it. This led to the people of Dublin drinking so much that all twenty four hospitalizations and thirteen deaths caused by the flood were not from burns, drowning, or smoke inhalation, but were caused by alcohol poisoning.

Rockwood & Company shipping department fire

    Rockwood & Co. was a famous chocolatier company that was the second largest producer of chocolate after Hershey and created Tootsie Rolls. However, on May 12, 1919, a fire started on the 2nd floor of the shipping department of the factory in Brooklyn. The 2nd floor contained finished chocolate products as well as cocoa beans which are believed to have spontaneously combusted, starting the fire. The fire was discovered just after 1 am by a factory worker who soon alerted the fire department. However, between the time that the worker discovered the fire and the time the firefighters arrived, the fire spread to the 3rd floor, which stored ingredients like cocoa, butter, and sugar.  The products from the 2nd floor and the raw ingredients on the 3rd floor mixed and formed a flood of molten chocolate.

    When the firefighters arrived, they began spraying the chocolate with water, unintentionally causing the sugar and butter to separate from the mixture and solidify all over the city streets, making them greasy and hindering the efforts of the firefighters.

    The fire in the factory was extinguished, but it left the city covered in butter and chocolate.  The Brooklyn Daily Eagle would report it as an "ocean of fudge flooding the street like lava", and that the river of chocolate was so deep that you could "float a rowboat for 2 blocks along Flushing Avenue".  Unsurprisingly, this flood attracted the local children who were eager to eat the delicious chocolate.  The children were allowed to eat the chocolate but were collected by officers an hour later to go to school.  

    Although children got to eat the chocolate for free and there was no real damage to the factory, the company suffered damage worth 1.8 million dollars in today’s money.