Eight Miles Fire Fall Fatality 1928

Vincent Clayton, a member of the United States Coast Guard based in Spring Lake, New Jersey, was killed when he fell from a fire truck while traveling to the location of a fire threatening the rural community of Barnegat. His skull was fractured in the accident, and he succumbed to his injuries two hours later. 

Some residents of the town had abandoned their homes and brought belongings to the nearby coast and loaded them on boats in Barnegat Bay. Thousands of acres of pine woods were burned in the fire, which ran eight miles toward Barnegat, where it ultimately burned nine homes. The African-American community of Lincoln Heights was destroyed, though no injuries were reported. Ultimately, 1,000 professional firefighters, 150 Coast Guardsmen, and thousands of local volunteers successfully brought the fire under control.