How the Deadliest Nightclub Fire in History Improved Medical Interventions and Regulations and Impacted Legal Enforcement

Abstract

Introduction:

This presentation is a continuation of a WADEM presentation from 2013 entitled: Fires in Social Settings: An Examination of Prevention Strategies.

Method:

Nightclubs should be a place of fun and frivolity, but sometimes they become a place of death and destruction. The fire at the Cocoanut Grove in Boston Massachusetts, USA, in November, 1942 was the deadliest nightclub fire worldwide with a death toll of 492 and over 130 injured. Since that tragedy, regulations that could prevent or mitigate lethal incidents at nightclubs continue to be unenforced globally. This presentation will describe not only elements leading up to the Cocoanut Grove fire, but the resulting advances that have improved the lives and safety of the public.

Results:

The discussion begins by examining the general environment within the U.S. in fall of 1942. Appointed and elected officials tasked with protecting the public to reduce occurrences for such disasters failed in their performance of their respective roles. Groundbreaking medical advances used to treat the victims include the use of penicillin, methods of treating cutaneous burns, the use of electrolyte balance to aid in determining the ongoing treatment of burn victims, as well as other medical advances improved directly as a result of the fire. Additionally, the first systematic study of grief and survivors’ guilt and the recognition of what is now called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder commenced.

Conclusion:

Finally the divergent theories of the sources of the fires, how fire codes have changed in the aftermath as well as how the parties that were directly or indirectly responsible for the fire were disciplined by the judicial system will be reviewed.