More Notable Fires
In 1949, a fire in the Eureka Shipyard caused the death of fireman Armand Santacroce.
 In 1954, beside Newburgh Free Academy on Fullerton and South Streets, an oil truck collided with a fire truck and burst into flame. The oil truck driver was killed, and one firemen was critically injured. The other firemen were injured but recovered within the year.
In February 1956, the Academy of Music, Newburgh's landmark performance hall at Broadway and Grand Street, had a severe fire that could be seen across the river in Beacon.
Just up the street, the Broadway Theater had bad fires in 1943 and again in 1965. The Beatles movie "Help!" was playing when the last fire broke out. The image of the burning marquee with that film title appeared in Life magazine. The fire destroyed the theater, leaving only an empty lot.
The Harvey Brothers tire recapping plant on Ann Street caught fire in July 1961, filling the center of the business district with intense heat and dense smoke.
The empty waterfront warehouse once used by Schoonmaker's Department Store burned in 1969, a probable arson fire.
In September 1981, over 200 firefighters from Newburgh and 19 neighboring mutual aid companies fought a massive fire that gutted the Cleveland Whitehill building (erected 1919 to produce work clothes), which filled the block south of Washington's Headquarters.
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