Cocoanut Grove was a very popular nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts. On November 28th, 1942 the nightclub caught on fire and is now known to be the largest nightclub fire in history. The fire killed 492 people including a suicide a few weeks after. Over 150 people were injured and sent to Boston-area hospitals. The reported number of injuries is suspected to be much higher since not everyone sought medical attention. The fire originally started in the Melody Lounge, then rapidly spread into the Foyer and continued into the dining room. There are many different theories on how the fire may have started, but it is said to be that the bus boy had caused the fire. The nightclub was decorated with palm trees equipped with lights on them. One of the lights went out and the bus boy was ordered to replace the lightbulb. The palm tree was located in the corner of the room, it was dark and the bus boy needed light to find the socket for the lightbulb. He lit a match to see and replaced the lightbulb. This is when it is said to be that the fire had started. The match had set the palm tree on fire and as the flames …show more content…
grew bigger they transferred to the ceiling. As the fire spread, stairways created thermal drafts and pro-xylene from the walls and ceiling emitted flammable gas. Decorations throughout the nightclub had also acted as fuel for the fire. Cocoanut Grove had no type of sprinkler system in place to suppress or contain the fire. The nightclub was not considered a place of public assembly so regulations affecting lodging houses and theaters did not apply. There was no requirement for sprinkler systems in the nightclub. The night of the fire there were around 1,000 attendees. The capacity of the nightclub was only to allow 460 people in. The main entrance/exit of the club was a revolving door. As the fire progressed panic erupted quickly causing chaos within the club. Everyone rushed for the main entrance but the revolving door had become congested and jammed. 200 people died within feet of the main exit. Other exits were locked or were not clearly labeled. Usually in disasters the injury to death ratio is 3 to 5. Meaning for every 5 injuries there are 3 deaths. In the Cocoanut Grove’s case the injury to death ratio was 5 to 3. For every 3 injuries there were 5 deaths. The main causes of death were from heat and asphyxiation. Other causes of death and injury include, smoke inhalation, burns and anoxia which restricts oxygen flow to body tissue. Over 50% of the survivors were affected by post-traumatic stress neuroses. Changes to regulations had been made before the fire occurred, but Boston had not yet adapted to these changes.
Some of the major changes made were, revolving doors were not to be used unless collapsible, exits were to be clearly labeled, and exits were to be available in reasonable travel distance. These changes only had jurisdiction on new construction. The nightclub was not required to follow these regulations. If the nightclub would have made the necessary changes when the new regulations took place and abided by the capacity the club was allowed, the outcome of this fire would have been substantially different. After the fire the following recommendations were made to legislation, the installation of automatic sprinklers, exit doors to only have panic locks and no others, exit signs to be illuminated, and the use of cloth for false ceilings to be
prohibited. Immediately after the fire 3 separate investigations were conducted. The first investigation was conducted by the Boston Police Department to find out if any criminal or corruption issues were connected to the fire. The second investigation was ordered by Boston’s Mayor Maurice J. Tobin to discover what caused the fire. Massachusetts’s Attorney General and Boston’s District Attorney opened the third investigation to find out who started the fire. Although the bus boy is said to be the cause of the fire, according to the Boston Fire Departments records the cause of the fire is “unknown”. Following the investigations, the grand jury issued ten indictments. Charges against everyone were dropped except for the charges against the owner of the nightclub Barnett Welansky. Welansky was charged with 19 counts of manslaughter and sentenced to a 12 to 15 years in prison. After only serving 3 years in prison Welansky was released due to health issues. A short time later Welansky died from cancer. The nightclub never reopened. Many key factors that contributed to this major disaster relate to other historic fires as well. The 1903 Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago and the 1973 Upstairs Lounge Arson Attack in New Orleans could have had significantly different outcomes if the buildings would have had a sprinkler system to suppress or contain the fire. The Iroquois Theater Fire and the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub Fire were required to have no flammable decorations. In both cases decorations were in fact flammable and acted as fuel to the fires. Much like the Iroquois Theatre Fire the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub Fire also had locked exits that were in violation. These fires could have been much less devastating if the correct action was taken before hand. Each of these fires are perfect examples on why it is so important to be prepared and follow standards.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire not only affected the city of New York, but also the rest of the country. It forever changed the way our country would look at safety regulations in factories and buildings. The fire proved to America what can and will happen if we over-look safety regulations and over-crowd buildings. Unfortunately, 146 lives are taken before we fully understand this concept.
The fire lasted only 12-14 minutes and killed 492 and injured 164, the reason for this is the building construction, occupancy, and interior design of the club. For better understanding the structure will be described in great detail.
Bright, R G. Reconstruction of a Tragedy: The Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire, Southgate, Kentucky, May 28, 1977. an Analysis of the Development and Spread of Fire from the Room of Fire Origin (zebra Room) to the Cabaret Room. Appendix C. Richard Bright's Analysis. Place of publication not identified: publisher not identified, 1977. Internet resource.
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire Providence Journal http://www.projo.com/extra/2003/stationfire/ National Fire Protection Association http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=633&itemID=21073&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Safety%20fact%20sheets/Saf&cookie%5Ftest=1 State of Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office. http://www.riag.ri.gov/misc/station.php -Witness Statements -Grand Jury Testimony -West Warwick Documents The Boston Globe http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/02/02/tentative_deal_set_in_ri_fire_case/ Transcript of Journal interview with Attorney General Lynch.
On the fateful and unforgettable afternoon of June 17, 1972 Hotel Vendome experienced yet another fire. Actually it experienced several fires in different locations on this date. Electricians working on the first floor reported smoke coming from the upper floors, and a bartender reported smoke in the basement. All occupants in the basement café were safely escorted out, and 3 engine companies, 2 ladder companies, and 1 District Chief arrived on scene noticing ...
...ome of the tragedy, sweeping changes in school fire safety regulations were enacted nationwide, no doubt saving countless lives in subsequent years. But for the innocent victims of the Our Lady of the Angels, it was too late.”
In making the decisions to protect people’s lives from hazards and disasters, evacuations sometimes become necessary. Of course early in the reaction to the incident, or the response phase, this may become a decision for local and state emergency managers. The San Diego, California wildfire which occurred in October 2007 caused a large scale evacuation. This essay is an analysis, and identification of lessons learned from the evacuation incident. As well a plan of personal recommendations and improvements will be made based on information covered in the National Housing strategy, and Robert Stafford Act.
Ethos (1)- Dr. Umar Johnson’s interview Black People Tend Not to Understand Propaganda can be found on YouTube and in the film 2015 Wilmington on Fire. Throughout the film, title cards in the film make it clear Dr. Johnson is a historian and psychologist with a PhD. His credentials compounded by his appearance in a documentary about historical event blotted from history make his testimony all the more believable because this topic has not been discussed in the public sphere. This is what would be considered initial credibility.
Before the fire broke out on Sunday night, October 8, 1871 there had been a large drought causing everything to be dry and extremely flammable. Many fires had been breaking out in Chicago. Records show that in 1870 the fire fighters went to nearly 600 fires. On Saturday night there had been a large fire that destroyed about four blocks and lasted for 16 hours. Another reason why everything in Chicago was so flammable was because almost the entire city was made out of wood. It was a lot worse in the middle class and poor sections of the town (19). Just about every house was made out of wood. Even buildings that claimed to be fire proof had wood roofs covered with tar. The richer part of town had stone and brick homes, but wooden interiors, wooden stables, and wooden storage buildings (Cromie, 81). Chicago was built on marshland and every time it rained the city flooded, so to help this problem the roads were made out of wood and elevated above the waterline. The day the fire started there were over 55 miles of pine-block street and 600 miles of wooden sidewalks. “Chicago in 1871 was a city ready to burn,” according to Jim Murphy, author of The Great Fire (Murphy, 18).
Humans have interacted with our planet and its glorious sights and resources in both negative and positive ways; some ways have a negative effect on our land but a positive effect on our economic progression and visa versa. Unfortunately the Cuyahoga River has been made famous because of its complications that have been caused, which has created not only economical problems but environmental problems all throughout its troubled history and is still being fixed to this day.
People around the city went to bed, everything seemed relatively normal. Smoke dwindling into the dark night sky, the faint smell of burning wood. All normal for Chicago. Fires were a daily part of life for this wooden city. Near the time of 2 a.m. the fire didn’t seem so normal and average anymore. A mean flame was being born, it was blazing to life.
There was a huge amount of the finest food around, tons of alcohol was served and of course that was. not a problem at all for there was a transport system for the wasted fellows. I will be there. This was the perfect place for people to show all their finest suites, it was the place where lights and colors gleamed until daylight, when the last guests left the party. It is amazing how people arrive to the party without being invited.
...pectors had determined that the reason on which the fire had rapidly spread was due to many structural and design flaws. Wires not being grounded correctly, a fire alarm that never rung or let out a peep. The stairwell which was a critical escape path overwhelmed by smoke. Other defects located in the air conditioning systems, all which helped the smoke spread. Despite of 83 building code violations, no one was ever punished for the lives that were lost. Later, the Hotel was being rebuilt, and the fire marshal had issued for the hotel to pay 192000$ to install sprinklers in the casino room; the clark county building official had rejected for the fire marshal’s charge. Authorities then had said that the automatic sprinkler systems were better off installed in the first place, as they could have prevented the loss many lives and the disaster at the hotel. Even after
The Great Fire of London, as documented by Samuel Pepys and other writers, began on the early morning of Sunday, September 2nd 1666 when a fire erupted at Pudding Lane in Thomas Farriner’s bakery (Dailey and Tomedi 43). Farriner, who was the king’s baker, went to fetch a candle some time close to midnight. While going to get the candle, Farriner observed that his oven was not lit and that there were no embers. However, two hours later Farriner and his family awoke feeling “almost choked with smoked” (Shields 80). Farriner quickly dashed over to the top of the stairs and found flames making their way up from the shop below. According to Farriner, the fire was not in the proximity of his over nor the pile of wood close to his house (Shields 81). However this and the actual cause of the fire in the house are debatable due to Farriner possibly attempting to remove any blame placed on him from the fire by lying in his testimony of the in...
Fire at any level can be devastating, yet the effects that wildfires have on every worldwide country really has left its mark on the land. As written by world renowned wild fire spokesperson Smokey the Bear, “Every year, wildfires sweeps through parts of the United States setting wilderness and homes ablaze. On average these raging infernos destroy about four to five million acres of land a year. But in 2012, wildfire burned more than 9.3 million acres, an area about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined” (U.S. Wildfires). Destroying homes, crops, towns and of course forests. Yet the effects of these fires can be seen from a negative perspective as well as some positive. Plus there are natural causes as well as manmade that makes these destructive fires erupt and become almost unstoppable in seconds.