Captain James F. McNellis

Firefighters were working at a fire at the five-story Deardorff Building located at 1216-1218 Union Avenue when a wall collapsed. Shortly after the collapse, Captain McNellis heard cries for help coming from the adjacent alley where the collapse had occurred. As he ran down the alley to help, he came in contact with a live electrical wire and died at the scene. Captain McNellis was a member of Hose Company #4.

The son of Captain McNellis, Firefighter Frank McNellis also died in the Line of Duty on April 18,1906 after he asphyxiated from gas fumes while on watch in the watch tower at the Studebaker Building.