The Hotel Roosevelt fire, on December 29, 1963, was the worst fire that Jacksonville

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, had seen since the Great Fire of 1901

Great Fire of 1901

The Great Fire of 1901 in Jacksonville, Florida was one of the worst disasters in Florida history and the largest urban fire in the Southeast. It was similar in scale and destruction to the 1871 Great Chicago Fire.-Origin:...

, and it contributed to the worst one-day death toll in the city's history: twenty-two persons died, mostly from carbon-monoxide poisoning

Carbon monoxide poisoning

Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after enough inhalation of carbon monoxide . Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and initially non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect...

.

At the time, the Hotel Roosevelt

Carling Hotel

The Carling, formerly known as the Carling Hotel and Hotel Roosevelt, is a historic building in Jacksonville, Florida, United States, built in 1925. It is located at 31 West Adams Street...

 was one of two luxury hotels in the city's downtown, with many restaurants and businesses on its ground floor, including a ballroom

Ballroom

A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms...

 and a barber shop. At the end of each year, the Hotel Roosevelt hosted hundreds of travelers who came to attend the Gator Bowl

Gator Bowl

The Gator Bowl is an annual college football bowl game played at EverBank Field in Jacksonville, Florida. Held continuously since 1946, it is the sixth oldest college bowl, as well as the first one ever televised nationally...

.

Timeline

The fire started in the ballroom's ceiling. The old ceiling, which was deemed a fire hazard, was not removed when the new ceiling was installed, providing kindling for the fire, which started from faulty wires.

The first calls to the Jacksonville Fire Department were made at 7:30am by Alton Crowden, Sr.. Smoke was traveling throughout the 13-story building, and hotel visitors climbed out of the smoky building with the help of other patrons and bedsheets tied together. Mayor W. Haydon Burns

W. Haydon Burns

William Haydon Burns was the 35th Governor of Florida from 1965 to 1967. He was also Mayor of the city of Jacksonville, Florida from 1949 to 1965.-Early life:...

 immediately called for assistance from the U.S. Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, and eight helicopters were flown to downtown from Cecil Field

Cecil Field

Cecil Airport is a public joint civil-military airport located in Jacksonville, a city in Duval County, Florida, United States. The airport is owned by the Jacksonville Aviation Authority and services military aircraft, corporate aircraft, general aviation, and air cargo. The Florida Army National...

 and NAS Jacksonville

Naval Air Station Jacksonville

Naval Air Station Jacksonville or NAS Jacksonville is a military airport located four miles south of the central business district of Jacksonville...

. The airmen helped the patrons out of the building, and transported them to a nearby parking lot, where ambulance

Ambulance

An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...

s were already waiting.

The fire was extinguished by 9:30a.m., and it was estimated that nearly 475 people were saved from the burning building. After a day of recovering the dead, firefighters found 21 residents dead in their beds from smoke inhalation. In addition, assistant chief J.R. Romedy collapsed of a heart attack during the initial rescue efforts, and died at the scene.

One of those who survived the fire was 1964 Miss America Donna Axum

Donna Axum

Donna Axum was crowned Miss America in 1964.Axum from El Dorado, Arkansas, now lives in Fort Worth, Texas, and is a member of the boards of the National Committee for the Performing Arts of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Fort Worth Symphony, the Van Cliburn Foundation, named for the...

.

Aftermath and remembrance

Property damage to the Hotel Roosevelt was immense, and the hotel was closed in 1964, with most of the hotel's businesses and staff relocating to the equally upscale hotel, George Washington Hotel. After much renovation, the building was re-opened as a retirement home and the Jacksonville Regency House, which closed in 1989.

The former Hotel Roosevelt, located on Adams Street in downtown, is still standing. The building was placed in the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in February 1991. Memorials are still held to remember those who died in the fire; the most recent gathering occurred in December 2003, for the 40th anniversary of the blaze.

The building was renovated in recent years and is now known as The Carling, an upscale apartment residence.