Factory Fire

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

There are many tales about disasters in American history there has been numerous disasters that could have been avoided. Many thousands of people have lost lives because of man made and natural disasters. When there is greed and lack of care for safety precaution things can be deadly. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire is one disaster that changed America. In order to look at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and conclude it was man made it is crucial to understand the series of events, errors in judgement, and the final consequences.

This disaster like any other one has an in depth series of events that lead up to the fire. First, the description of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company and the attitude of the owners are important. One of the first garment worker protests were held in front of the factory it was called, "Uprising of the 20,000." The owners just hired replacement workers to replace the main work force of immigrant women who hardly spoke English. After the protests and new laws put in place they ignored the fifty-hour work week and safety regulations ("Triangle Shirtwaist"). Next, are the events leading to and during the fire. First, it was March 25, 1911 and six hundred twenty five employees were at work (Perkes pg.) At 4:45 the bell rang signaling the end of the day. Someone from the street below notices there was smoke coming from the factory. Soon firefighters from Engine Company Seventy Two arrive but are overwhelmed with falling bodies. All the while the male workers try to put out the fire with the twenty-seven water buckets. Also the men that were working the elevator to the upper floors was rapidly going up and down. One of the operators said as he left the floors people would jump on top of the elevator and there was blood dripping on him while this was happening. The workers were running back and forth to emergency exits but the doors were locked (Rosa). People were being trampled while this happened ("Triangle Shirtwaist"). At a building next door some law students lowered a ladder to help those that had climbed to the roof of the factory. Engine Company 33 arrives (Rosa). Men and women lined up on the side of windows, the top of the roof, the emergency escapes, and some were jumping to their deaths (Perkes). Interns were arriving in horse drawn buggies but could do nothing but count dead bodies (Rosa). Finally, the fire had died by 7:00 P.M. After the fire had died the firefighters started removing dead bodies (Rosa). This was the end of a horrifying day but the beginnging of a series of events that would lead to factories and other large businesses taking better measures to protect and serve employees under law.

This disaster could have had zero deaths and not been a disaster at all if there weren't so many errors in judgement. There were many errors in judgement before the fire that caused countless deaths. To being, there were few exits with doors opening inward, emergency exits were locked, there was only one working elevator, and the stairs were only thirty-three inches wide and had to be walked through single file ("Triangle Shirtwaist"); (Wallechinsky 83). In addition, there were hundreds of people cramped in a small working space with flammable materials everywhere and the cutting machines used gasoline. On top