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Three Fire Disasters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Thomas R. Layton  and
Einer R. Elhauge
Thomas R. Layton
Affiliation:
From theMercy Hospital Burn Center, Pride and Locust Streets, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219, USA.
Einer R. Elhauge
Affiliation:
From theMercy Hospital Burn Center, Pride and Locust Streets, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15219, USA.
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Extract

In order to better understand the conditions permitting a fire disaster to occur and to better postulate methods of fire prevention, an historic analysis of three fire disasters was performed. Journalistic accounts, official investigative studies and documents were examined concerning 3 fire disasters: (1) The General Slocum Ship Fire of 1904; (2) the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911; and (3) the Coconut Grove Nightclub Fire in Boston of 1942. Although the fires occurred on a ship, in a factory, and in a nightclub, several striking similarities were found.

(1) On June 15, 1904, the ship General Slocum embarked on a voyage up New York's East River, that ended in death for 1031 people. The ship, which was constructed entirely of wood, had recently passed inspection. The ship's crew, mostly longshoremen with little sea experience, had never fought a fire at sea. The hatches and bulkheads were flammable, the fire hoses were old and rotten, the fire buckets were out of reach and empty.

Type
Part III: International Organizations - Planning - Disaster Events
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 1 , supplement S1: Disaster Resuscitology , 1985 , pp. 366 - 367
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1985

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References

1. Smith, D. History of Firefighting in America. New York: Dial Press, 1978, 112–114.Google Scholar
2. Lyons, P. Fire in America. Boston: NFPA, 1976, 114–115.Google Scholar
3. Stein, L. The Triangle Fire. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1962. 204–212.Google Scholar
4. Benzaquin, P. Fire in Boston's Coconut Grove. Boston: Branden Press, 1967. 204–224.Google Scholar