On January 9, 1951, a fast-moving three-alarm fire tore through the Perfex Manufacturing Company at 821 Howard Street, causing an estimated $350,000 in damage and leaving the four-story brick structure a burned-out shell. The blaze, which began shortly after 8:00 a.m., spread with alarming speed, fueled by combustible materials and emulsifying oils used in the plant’s operations. Within minutes, thick, chemical-laden smoke darkened the sky as successive alarms were struck at 8:03, 8:06, and 8:11 a.m.
Despite the intensity of the fire, all 14 employees inside the building escaped, though not without peril. One worker, Leonard Shane, was forced to cling to a third-floor window ledge after his escape route was cut off by flames and smoke. Spotted by city street department workers, he was held at the window until firefighters arrived and brought him safely to the ground. Another employee narrowly avoided danger after attempting to return upstairs, only to find the stairway blocked by fire moments later.
Fire crews brought the blaze under control in roughly an hour, but not before it had gutted the structure. Investigators later determined the cause to be undetermined, though it was believed to have originated in a second-floor mixing room before spreading rapidly to nearby stored cartons.
The fire marked the city’s first three-alarm response since the Consolidated Building Supply fire the previous November, drawing ten engine companies, a tower truck, and three hook and ladder companies. While the loss was substantial, insurance was expected to cover approximately 90 percent of the damage. In the aftermath, plans were already underway to relocate operations to a new facility, ensuring the company’s continuity despite the devastating blaze.
In January 2026, the Omaha Firefighters Historical Society was contacted by a woman clearing out her mother’s home near Little Italy. Among the items discovered was an envelope containing thirteen 8×10 black-and-white photographs of the Perfex Manufacturing Fire. The images had been taken by Arson Investigator Dan Mulcahey, who maintained a photographic lab in the basement of old Station No. 3 at 1819 Harney Street. Mulcahey’s collection had once been stored there, but when the station closed, many photographs were discarded during the move. Fortunately, several firefighters salvaged portions of the archive, preserving at least a fraction of the department’s visual history – but it must be noted that these photographs went to the wind! The reason these particular photographs ended up in private hands remains unknown, but their return to the Society is significant. Without them, the visual record of the Perfex fire would be limited to a single grainy newspaper image.
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