Vancouver British Columbia - At 13:45 on 27 Jul 1938 fire broke out at the north end of the Canadian Pacific Railway's Pier D, at the foot of Granville Street.
 
Within 15 minutes, the entire north end of the pier was in flames.
 
It was so hot, four firemen battling the blaze from a raft beside the pier had to leap into the water "when the heat became too much for human flesh to bear."
 
The raft had caught fire, and the firemen's hose was burned through.
 
Luckily for the them, the tugboat Charles H. Cates had come over from North Vancouver to help battle the blaze.
 
They picked the firemen up, but the heat was so intense Capt. C.W. Cates told The Vancouver Sun that the clothing on the tugboat's crew "was steaming" by the time they pulled away with the rescued firemen.
 
Flames shot 20 feet in the air, smoke billowed 100 feet into the sky.
 
By 14:25 the whole 920-foot long, 200-foot wide pier was on fire.
 
"So rapidly did the flames roar through the tinder-dry pier that in less than 40 minutes after it started the whole huge dock was in flame," The Sun reported.
 
"The advancing fire front and masses of dense smoke forced firemen to rescue hoses and equipment and rush them to safety. The steady roar of the inferno drowned out all other sound, and the vari-colored cloud of thick, oily, smoke awed the thousands of spectators massed on every vantage point."
 
It was a wild scene.
 
"Flying cinders, bits of blazing debris, and ashes were carried on the east wind to Stanley Park and most sections of the West End," The Sun reported.
 
"Buildings a block away were kept drenched as the intense heat melted roofing material. Railway ties 50 yards from the blazing pier caught fire."
 
Pier D was big enough to accommodate two "deep sea" vessels and eight coastal steamers.
 
The CPR's Princess Charlotte had been docked at the northeast end when the blaze began, and would have caught fire if not for the quick thinking of Capt. Tommy Rippon.
 
"The ship was moored directly in the path of the flames, with her engines cold and very little steam, since she was not due to sail until 21:00," The Sun noted.
 
"Capt. Rippon rushed aboard at the first alarm with a makeshift crew of stewards, deck hands, and stevedores.
 
The "shanghaied" crew labored in the stokehold while flames rapidly grew closer to the ship.
 
"At 13:50 Captain Tommy finally gave the signal to cast off the lines to the flaming pier and the volunteer engine-room crew opened the throttle. The big turbines turned over slowly at first, then gathered speed, and the Charlotte backed away to safety as yellow smoke began to curl upwards from her rapidly charring sides."
 
Another CPR steamer, the Princess Adelaide, had been docked at the adjacent Pier C, and was safely moved by her crew.
 
Then Pier D caved in at 14:35.
 
"A great burst of fire and smoke rolled up," The Sun reported.
 
"Last clear sight of old Pier D was the name-sign on the south facade, which vanished in the great billow of smoke that announced the cave-in of the super-structure.
 
"Raw flames in great gouts licked out toward Pier B.C. after D collapsed.
 
The fire on the west side reached its zenith at 14:55, when it seemed nothing could save the causeway between the two piers."
 
But by 15:40 fire crews had the blaze under control, helped by a fireboat and four tugs that streamed water onto the fire from Burrard Inlet.
 
Seven people who fought the fire were treated in hospital for injuries, but there was no loss of life.
 
The pier was completely destroyed, causing $1.2 million worth of damage.
 
Incredibly, both the Princess Charlotte and the Princess Adelaide were able to make their scheduled sailings for Alaska and Powell River that night.

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