from disaster. With untold numbers trapped under the rubble of thousands of ruined buildings, rescuers faced a race against time, not only because many were grievously injured and would die without urgent assistance, but also because fires threatened to burn out of control across the wreckage of so many wooden houses. The explosion had set fire to hundreds of buildings, but the pressure wave had also caused furnaces, stoves and lamps to break, burst or spill. Winter had only just begun to set in, so everyoneâs coal cellars were full, stocked up to last through the cold months ahead. The sporadic fires found these sources of fuel and grew and spread, combining into much larger conflagrations.
In Richmond entire streets burned whilst would-be rescuers fought to contain the flames. It didnât help that so many firemen had been killed in the explosion. Firemen from nearby districts struggled to fight fires in unfamiliar areas rendered even more unrecognisable by the devastation, in which fire-fighting equipment and a reliable water supply was no longer available.
Plenty of able-bodied civilians volunteered to help too, but it was only when the military took charge that rescue efforts became co-ordinated and more effective. Halifax looked like a warzone, and thousands of soldiers were trained to maintain calm in the face of such danger and chaos. Medical staff from three Royal Navy ships, HMS
Highflyer
, HMS
Calgarian
and HMS
Knight Templar
(which had been cast adrift by the tsunami), hurried ashore to start treating the injured wherever they found them.
But an hour after the
Mont Blanc
exploded, most rescue efforts came to an abrupt stop. Soldiers clearing rubble and looking for buried survivors in the area around the Wellington Barracks, at the southern end of the Narrows, saw what they thought was smoke rising from the armoury there. Rumours and then panic spread as rapidly as the fire had â a second explosion was imminent. The military commanders who had taken charge of the rescue operation ordered an immediate evacuation. Some ignored the order and kept working, but most fled. At this point, few knew the facts of what had happened aboard the
Mont Blanc
. Many believed the Germans had launched a massive attack in the harbour, and expected a second attack against the weakened city.
The smoke the soldiers saw actually turned out to be just steam. Barracks personnel were pouring water on thehot coals in the furnace as a precaution. The truth took far longer to spread than the panic, and it was noon before the rescue efforts resumed in earnest. At about this time, trains from other parts of Nova Scotia began to arrive at stations that hadnât been destroyed by the explosion. Thanks to Vincent Colemanâs message, people outside Halifax knew more about what had happened than those picking their way through the ruins. Doctors and nurses brought supplies with them on the trains, and when the trains left again, they took wounded survivors with them.
Anaesthetic quickly ran low and bandages ran out completely.
Over 9,000 people had been injured as a result of the explosion, 6,000 of them seriously. The hospitals in Halifax overflowed with casualties. They were understaffed and lacked the resources to handle a disaster on this scale. Anaesthetic quickly ran low and bandages ran out completely. Some people had their wounds wrapped with ripped clothing. Once the morgues were full a makeshift mortuary was set up in the basement of a local school. That too quickly filled up.
As the number of stretchers lined up on the streets outside the hospitals mounted, and hospital staff adopted a triage system to prioritise who to help, medical staff from ships in harbour began setting up aid stations all around the city to take on some of the slack. Meanwhile, some doctors even performed emergency operations on their own kitchen tables. Amputations and eye removals became almost routine. Surgeons ended up working around the
In Richmond entire streets burned whilst would-be rescuers fought to contain the flames. It didnât help that so many firemen had been killed in the explosion. Firemen from nearby districts struggled to fight fires in unfamiliar areas rendered even more unrecognisable by the devastation, in which fire-fighting equipment and a reliable water supply was no longer available.
Plenty of able-bodied civilians volunteered to help too, but it was only when the military took charge that rescue efforts became co-ordinated and more effective. Halifax looked like a warzone, and thousands of soldiers were trained to maintain calm in the face of such danger and chaos. Medical staff from three Royal Navy ships, HMS
Highflyer
, HMS
Calgarian
and HMS
Knight Templar
(which had been cast adrift by the tsunami), hurried ashore to start treating the injured wherever they found them.
But an hour after the
Mont Blanc
exploded, most rescue efforts came to an abrupt stop. Soldiers clearing rubble and looking for buried survivors in the area around the Wellington Barracks, at the southern end of the Narrows, saw what they thought was smoke rising from the armoury there. Rumours and then panic spread as rapidly as the fire had â a second explosion was imminent. The military commanders who had taken charge of the rescue operation ordered an immediate evacuation. Some ignored the order and kept working, but most fled. At this point, few knew the facts of what had happened aboard the
Mont Blanc
. Many believed the Germans had launched a massive attack in the harbour, and expected a second attack against the weakened city.
The smoke the soldiers saw actually turned out to be just steam. Barracks personnel were pouring water on thehot coals in the furnace as a precaution. The truth took far longer to spread than the panic, and it was noon before the rescue efforts resumed in earnest. At about this time, trains from other parts of Nova Scotia began to arrive at stations that hadnât been destroyed by the explosion. Thanks to Vincent Colemanâs message, people outside Halifax knew more about what had happened than those picking their way through the ruins. Doctors and nurses brought supplies with them on the trains, and when the trains left again, they took wounded survivors with them.
Anaesthetic quickly ran low and bandages ran out completely.
Over 9,000 people had been injured as a result of the explosion, 6,000 of them seriously. The hospitals in Halifax overflowed with casualties. They were understaffed and lacked the resources to handle a disaster on this scale. Anaesthetic quickly ran low and bandages ran out completely. Some people had their wounds wrapped with ripped clothing. Once the morgues were full a makeshift mortuary was set up in the basement of a local school. That too quickly filled up.
As the number of stretchers lined up on the streets outside the hospitals mounted, and hospital staff adopted a triage system to prioritise who to help, medical staff from ships in harbour began setting up aid stations all around the city to take on some of the slack. Meanwhile, some doctors even performed emergency operations on their own kitchen tables. Amputations and eye removals became almost routine. Surgeons ended up working around the
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