Newspaper Articles of Factory Fires during Progressive Era
The most popular timeframe where factory fires were mentioned most often was between 1905 and 1918 where there were around 84,000 matches. Factory Fires did not occur everyday, but when they did it was tragic. I focused my research primary in New York because of the large quantity of people and factories made the city a hot spot of progressivism. Due to the large population of people overcrowding was a major issue causing more deaths in the fires. The most common causes of fires were: spontaneous combustion, sparks from chimneys and locomotives, and gas explosions. To prevent these matters the Fire Marshall developed incombustible materials, chimney height regulations, and rules of electricity and fire around explosive materials. Though these methods helped they did not solve the problem.
It was possible to have a fireproof building, but not a panic proof. One disastrous incident was the fire of the Triangle Waist Company in the March of 1911. The factory was in a loft building with the fire department concluded all these types of building were fire traps. The building only contained one fire escape, 2 elevators, and stairwells, which were sometimes locked because so many workers was hard to keep track of. When an inspector visited the factory (before the fire) he had states that there was a large overcrowding of women that that there were probably more than 1000 girls on the top three floors of a ten floor building. Fire Chief Crooker had stated at the scene of the fire, "I have said over and over agin that this ting was sure to happen- and it will happen again. The overcrowding of these loft buildings is a menace to life." One of the elevator workers Joseph Zlto explained the incident after being claimed a hero of the fire. While working on the 8th floor there was a loud crash. Hundreds of girls fled to the elevators. He crammed as many workers as he could in the elevator and brought them down to the street level. He did this process around 20 times along with another worker operating the other elevator. The flames began to engulf the top floors and he wasn't able to go back up, but he began to hear people jumping down the elevator shaft, but were killed when they hit the bottom. Not only were people jumping down the elevator shaft, but also the windows. Around 55 people jumped from the windows, and 35 down the shaft, none of them surviving though. In all the panic of thousands of workers only few remembered to escape through the fire escape and the stairwells because of the panic people forgot.
Factories were so overcrowded laws had to be put in place where each worker was required so many square feet of floor space and cubic yards of air. Also due to these incident the fire department created a fire prevention bureau to develop ways to help. From this fire drills were required in every factory, just like in school. Fire Rules were also made which included: 1) don't run from the fire, get to know your surroundings, 2) do not resist help from a fireman, 3) Don't be hasty to jump, 4) fire drills are a fixed law, 5) learn to use fire appliances, 6) calm children at all cost, 7) keep calm, 8)in case of to much smoke put a wet cloth around mouth. Though these rules did not end factory fires they were able to prevent many from happening.
It was possible to have a fireproof building, but not a panic proof. One disastrous incident was the fire of the Triangle Waist Company in the March of 1911. The factory was in a loft building with the fire department concluded all these types of building were fire traps. The building only contained one fire escape, 2 elevators, and stairwells, which were sometimes locked because so many workers was hard to keep track of. When an inspector visited the factory (before the fire) he had states that there was a large overcrowding of women that that there were probably more than 1000 girls on the top three floors of a ten floor building. Fire Chief Crooker had stated at the scene of the fire, "I have said over and over agin that this ting was sure to happen- and it will happen again. The overcrowding of these loft buildings is a menace to life." One of the elevator workers Joseph Zlto explained the incident after being claimed a hero of the fire. While working on the 8th floor there was a loud crash. Hundreds of girls fled to the elevators. He crammed as many workers as he could in the elevator and brought them down to the street level. He did this process around 20 times along with another worker operating the other elevator. The flames began to engulf the top floors and he wasn't able to go back up, but he began to hear people jumping down the elevator shaft, but were killed when they hit the bottom. Not only were people jumping down the elevator shaft, but also the windows. Around 55 people jumped from the windows, and 35 down the shaft, none of them surviving though. In all the panic of thousands of workers only few remembered to escape through the fire escape and the stairwells because of the panic people forgot.
Factories were so overcrowded laws had to be put in place where each worker was required so many square feet of floor space and cubic yards of air. Also due to these incident the fire department created a fire prevention bureau to develop ways to help. From this fire drills were required in every factory, just like in school. Fire Rules were also made which included: 1) don't run from the fire, get to know your surroundings, 2) do not resist help from a fireman, 3) Don't be hasty to jump, 4) fire drills are a fixed law, 5) learn to use fire appliances, 6) calm children at all cost, 7) keep calm, 8)in case of to much smoke put a wet cloth around mouth. Though these rules did not end factory fires they were able to prevent many from happening.
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