Notable Fires
There is good reason for a city the size and configuration of Newburgh to be mindful about fire protection. Newburgh has suffered some devastating and spectacular fires. In 1864 the McKinstry and Ostrander Tannery in the west end of the village was levelled. The following year, a massive fire engulfed the Washington Iron Works, causing $35,000 damage in 1865 dollars.
The interconnected transportation systems in Newburgh were a source of fire on many occasions. Train and boxcar fires flared up on the many rail sidings and storage yards, one killing firefighter Moses Embler on the West Shore line at the turn of the last century. In 1908, a Day Line steamship, the New York, in drydock at Marvel shipyards, burned with the loss of four crew members. Just one year later, the iron shop buildings of the same Marvel Yards burned down.
 Two ferry boats burned in their slips at Newburgh: the Union in 1878 and the Dutchess in 1961. In the Union fire, the men were battling the flames onboard when the smokestack and pilothouses fell, and the boat began to sink. Firemen were quickly dropped into waist-high river water and scrambled to shore with minor injuries.
The first Coldwell Lawn Mower plant on South William Street was gutted by fire in 1910.
An extensive Colden Street fire claimed nine massive brick stores in 1927; firemen fought the flames in below-zero cold and wind for over eight hours. Without enough rubber coats to protect them, firefighters were turned into human icicles — one driver, Reed Haight, was frozen to the wheel of his truck. As the fire was brought under control, it took an additional shift to secure and save the buildings in the square block running down to Water Street.
 Just two years later, in the fall of 1929, a huge explosion caused many serious injuries, one death and the outbreak of several fires along Water Street near Third Street, when illuminating gas leaked into the sewer system. Many stores were damaged in this blast.
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