Fire fighting at the State Building viewed from the corner of Chestnut and Kalamazoo the first afternoon, February 8, 1951. The bright sunlight of an 8-below day was turned by the fog of years into a beautiful Spring day in the author's recollections. If nothing else it indicates the author's parents dressed him warmly. Kalamazoo Street School's east playground is directly behind the photographer. The fire began over the lunch hour when 19 year old Richard Shay threw a match into a bin of papers in the State Highway Department microfilm room, on the M floor (the floor just above the cornice, now removed from the building as a result of the fire). His intention was to destroy draft records and avoid being called up to serve in Korea. The micofilm room was full of volatile film and the fire quickly involved the entire M floor. The first alarm was turned in at 1240, but when we students were led outside about 2pm smoke was pouring out all around the top of the building and flame was vivid in the windows by the microfilm room, which was in the far wing in the photo. Firemen dragged high pressure fog hoses up through the stairwells but they were ineffective against the intense flame. In the photo, notice the improvised arrangement by which the pumper's hose has been lifted on a crane boom, but is still woefully short of reaching the M floor windows. By this time it was a three-alarm fire with 9 pieces of equipment and 75 fire fighters at the scene, and a call had gone out to Grand Rapids, Flint, and Battle Creek to send equipment. The response included Grand Rapids' 100 foot aerial tower, and by 2am February 9, 4 aerials and 3 booms were putting 5000 gallons a minute into the building. It was six days before the fire was declared "out." Photo from Negative 18074, State Archives of Michigan, folder "Disasters, Fire, State Office Building" Information from an undated, illustrated monograph in this folder by Carlisle Carver, titled "Lansing's Biggest Fire", which is written from the perspective of a participating fire fighter and is supplemented by pencil margin notes made by another participating firefighter.