The Great Memorial Day Fire of 1945 and Other Schuylkill County Disasters

Schuylkill County is no stranger to disaster.

Schuylkill County is no stranger to disaster. Protected by volunteers since 1811, residents have faced block-burning conflagrations like the Great Memorial Day Fire of 1945, which consumed sixty-seven buildings in the Mahanoy City Business District, and commercial airplane crashes like United Flight 624 near Ashland, with no survivors. The Red Church propane truck explosion near Orwigsburg caused twelve fatalities, and the Reading Railroad passenger train collision with a gasoline truck in Port Carbon sparked death and destruction, as well as a frantic search for burning money.

Telling these stories with the help of rare and many never-before-seen images, authors and veteran firefighters Michael R. Glore and Michael J. Kitsock revisit some of the region’s most harrowing catastrophes.

Starting as a firefighter in 1986, Mike Glore has held various ranks and administrative offices in the Pottsville Fire Department and served as assistant fire chief of the City of Pottsville, Bureau of Fire, from 2004 to 2007. In 2007, he was hired as a career firefighter with the City of Reading, Department of Fire and Rescue Services, and in 2022, he was promoted to first deputy fire chief. In 2013, he received the department’s Lifesaving Award. Michael J. Kitsock has served as a volunteer firefighter and a fire instructor for several decades. A founding member of the Schuylkill Historical Fire Society, he was also an officer of the Schuylkill County Volunteer Firefighters’ Association. A retired educator, Mike taught for more than forty years. Currently, Mike is assistant fire chief in Norwegian Township and lives in Pottsville.