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FF. Patrick A. Bauer
Date of Birth: February 25, 1955
Date of Death: December 27, 1976
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY
FALLEN FIREFIGHTER
NAME: PATRICK A. BAUER AGE: 21
RANK: FIREFIGHTER BADGE #: 260
STATION: Assigned to Odenton Station #28 (day work) was working relief on Christmas at Brooklyn Station #31
DATE OF DEATH: December 27, 1976
CIRCUMSTANCES OF DEATH: While fighting a row house fire in Brooklyn Park on December 26th, Firefighter Bauer was caught in a back draft. He suffered severe burns and died at the hospital the following day. Firefighter George F. Driggers, Jr. (Ferndale VFC Volunteer) died on December 26, 1976, also as a result of this fire.
BURIAL LOCATION: Cedar Hill Cemetery – 4111 Pennsylvania Avenue, Suitland, MD 20746 (Prince George’s County adc map 18-D-8). Section 21, #151 over hill from “Washington” headstone.
Notes: Articles – Evening Capital December 27, and 28, 1976
Baltimore Sun December 27, and 31, 1976
Bell now hanging on wall at Station #5 was rung from Engine 27 as apparatus bearing casket
passed Station #27. The clapper was welded so it will never ring again.
PLAQUES, MEMORIALS, DEDICATIONS, ETC.:
- IAFF Fallen Firefighters Memorial – Colorado Springs (1978) Wall
- Maryland Fire and Rescue Memorial, Annapolis, MD
- Anne Arundel County Fallen Firefighters Memorial, Millersville
- Waugh Chapel Station #5 dedicated to Firefighter Bauer, Firefighter Driggers, and Assistant Chief Tucker.
Article Evening Capital December 27, 1976
Brooklyn Blaze Kills 2 Firemen Volunteer ‘too young,’ chief says
By Doug Struck
A 16 year-old volunteer and a 21 year-old paid firemen were killed yesterday when they were trapped inside a Brooklyn row house by a wall of searing flames.
The men are George F. Driggers, Jr., a 10 grader at Brookly Park High School, and Patrick A. Bauer, 21.
They were engulfed in a sudden flared up of the fire while they manned a hose on the first floor of the burning house, according to fire officials. Several other firemen scrambled to safety or were pulled out by a fire chief.
Bauer lived until 8 a.m. this morning with burns over 58 percent of his body, according to a spokesman at the Shock-Trauma unit of University Hospital.
The fatal blaze had chased a family of four from their beds on Christmas night. An 8 year-old boy is in guarded condition this morning with head lacerations he suffered while jumping from a second-story window to escape the smoke.
Driggers, who had officially joined the Ferndale Volunteer Fire Company only about four months ago, “always wanted to be a fireman,” his father said this morning.
But the chief who directed the attack on the fire said the youth “didn’t belong inside that house. If we had had proper officers and proper control he wouldn’t have been.”
The fire broke out at 3:36 a.m. at 213 West Riverview Road, at a two-story structure that is the end unit of a string of Brooklyn rowhouses.
According to fire investigator Clyde Willis, a neighbor noticed smoke coming from the adjoining building, and began pounding on the door of the owner, Charles Kunkle.
Kunkle’s wife, Patricia, answered the knock in an apparent daze from the smoke, and the neighbor pulled her to safety, Willis said.
The rest of the family escaped from their second-story bedrooms. Kunkle crawled down an awning, his 15 year-old daughter Kathleen scaled down a gas and electric line, and 8 year-old Jeffery apparently jumped from his window.
LT. Donald Gibson and three other men from the Brooklyn Fire Company were the first to arrive. When they got there, Gibson said, “there were people screaming all over. Some people said the family was still inside, some said they were all out.”
Gibson took two men and a hose inside the building, and found the source of the fire at the steps leading to the basement.
Gibson said he told the men to hold their position, and he went back outside to get a backup hose and direct operation of other units arriving on scene.
As he was outside, “something happened,” Gibson said. “Firemen were running all over.” According to investigator Willis, gases from the combustion or from a ruptured gas line in the basement apparently caused a “flash back” a sudden searing wall of flames that shot up from the stairs.
Gibson ran into the blaze and pulled two men to safety. Several others ran out another door, he said.
“I crawled back in as far as I could go and yelled out,” Gibson said. “I didn’t know anyone else was in there.”
Bauer and Driggers were apparently disoriented by the flashback and Bauer struggled to a window. Other firemen heard his calls and dragged him from the building.
Gibson said no one knew Driggers was inside until they found his body about 20 minutes later.
A Third fireman Alan L. Bartlett, 18, also a volunteer in the Ferndale Company received burns and cuts in the incident, but was not hospitalized.
The blaze was finally extinguished at 5:36 a.m. after three alarms had been sounded.
Gibson said he did not know the other firemen had gone inside the building. “There are not enough officers at those fires,” Gibson said this morning. “If we had the officers, we could have been able to set up the units outside, and I could have been on the inside and control the situation there.” “You should have at least three lieutenants and a captain on those fires. We’ve been making do with two lieutenants, and it’s impossible. One has to run around from inside to outside and there’s no control. We’ve been getting away with it, but we didn’t get away with it this time, “ he said.
Gibson said if he had had enough control of the arriving units, he would not have let Driggers inside the building. “We know he didn’t have any training. He doesn’t belong inside the house. You don’t train someone at age 16. He was too young.”
Thomas C. Frasier, vice president of the Ferndale Volunteer Company, said Driggers had been given training at the company, but had not undergone the comprehensive training offered at Millersville fire headquarters. “It hadn’t been offered yet,” Frasier said. “He was going to take it at the next scheduled class.”
Frasier said there are two other 16 year-olds in the 35 member Ferndale company. They must have permission from their parents to join at that age, he said.
Bauer was a volunteer fireman at the Maryland City station until about 16 months ago, when he was hired by the county and sent to training school. When he completed training, he was assigned to the Odenton company.
Early yesterday he was transferred to the Brooklyn station as relief for other firemen working the rash of Christmas weekend fires.
County Executive Robert A. Pascal this morning ordered county flags flown at half-mast until the firemen are buried.
Funeral services for Driggers are scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Hubbard Funeral Home. 4107 Wilkins Ave., Baltimore. Visiting hours will be 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. today and tomorrow. He is survived by his parents, four sisters, and a brother.
Frasier said Driggers’ membership in the fire company was his “first love, “ a fact confirmed by Driggers’ father. “He just liked doing it. “ the father said. “I used to let him go down on the weekends. He would go down Friday and stay until Sunday.
Funeral arrangements for Bauer were not available this morning.
The Baltimore Sun Tuesday December 28, 1976
Arundel fire claims 2nd fireman
Volunteer had died at Sunday’s blaze; 2nd victim was 21
An Anne Arundel county firefighter died yesterday morning at University Hospital from injuries received Sunday in a three-alarm fire in Brooklyn Park in which a 16 year-old volunteer firefighter was killed.
Patrick A. Bauer, 21, of Odenton, died of burns received as he fought the fire alongside George F. Driggers, Jr., who died inside the burning row house.
Mr. Bauer, who had been with the department for 14 months and was unmarried, was apparently trapped in the same burst of flames that killed young Driggers, a Brooklyn Park teen ager whose lifelong ambition was to be a volunteer firefighter.
The Driggers youth was pronounced dead at the scene of the blaze, a row hous in the 200 block West Riverview Avenue. Mr. Bauer was rushed to University Hospital with burns over more than 45 percent of his body. He died about 7:30 a.m. yesterday, hospital officials said.
Mr. Bauer and the Driggers youth had entered the building along with a group of firefighters and were trying to shoot water into the basement of the house, where the fire apparently broke out in the heating system, fire officials said. It was announced yesterday that a memorial service for the young Driggers will be held at 8 o’clock tonight at the Howard Hubbard Funeral establishment in the 4100 block Wilkens Avenue. A mass of resurrection will be offered for Mr. Bauer at 10 A.M. Friday at the Resurrection of Our Lord Church, Maryland City.
DEATH NOTICES (215)
BAUER
On Monday, December 27, 1976, Patrict A., beloved son of Aloysius and Gertrude Bauer, brother of Michael, Jacquelyn, Kevin, Connie, and Monica Bauer.
Friends may call at the Donaldson Funeral Home, 313 Talbott Avenue, Laurel, MD.
Mass of Resurrection on Friday 10 A.M. at the Church of the Resurrection of Our Lord, Brock Bridge Road, Laurel. Internment Cedar Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C.. Visiting Wednesday and Thursday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M.
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