Essay about Lessons of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911

Did you know that this awful tragedy killed 146 workers and most of them were young, female immigrants of Jewish and Italian descendants? Albert Marrin uses implicit and explicit evidence to tell the reader, in the early 1900’s fire safety was inadequate to protect people, which led to the awful tragedy, The Triangle fire. Explicit evidence means to be stated clearly and in detail. Implicit evidence means to be implied though not plainly expressed.

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.

     Near closing time on Saturday afternoon, March 25, 1911, in New York City a fire broke out on the top floors of the Asch Building in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. One of the worst tragedies in American history it was know as the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. It was a disaster that took the lives of 146 young immigrant workers. A fire that broke out in a cramped sweatshop that trapped many inside and killed 146 people.

The MGM Grand fire also created a public awareness about the fact that smoke inhalation and the buildup of carbon monoxide during a building fire could be more fatal than the flames. The injuries and respiratory conditions suffered by first responders marked the beginning of efforts to provide firefighters with air

On October 8, 1871 The Great Chicago Fire started and it didn’t end that day. It all started from a small barn fire. There are rumors that Patrick and Catherine O’Leary’s cow started it. All we know is that the Great Chicago fire started in a small barn. Previously, The city had dry weather and most of the city was made out of wood. Most buildings in Chicago at the time had really bad roofing and the tar they used for the roofing was flammable too. The city’s roads and sidewalks were made out of wood, which they thought wood was good for it. They did that because if it rains then the roads and sidewalks won’t be muddy. To protect the city, only 185 firefighters with 17 horse drawn steam engines, and that was it. From July 4 to October 9 the city received only an inch of rain, so they had drought conditions.

Rose Freedman was the last survivor of the fire and she went on to do amazing things. “She was born in a town near Vienna where her family ran a successful business” (Kemp 1). When her family moved to New York in 1909 they moved to a decent apartment but her father wasn’t doing too well with his business, so Rose became a worker at the factory. In interviews she said although she had tough working conditions, the work was a exciting job. As a kid Rose was just your average girl, she had an average job just like anybody else. But what happened on the horrid day would change her life forever.

This event made an immense difference in peoples’ lives who were in Victoria when this occurred with 173 people killed, 414 injured, 2100 homes destroyed and 7562 people displaced. This event did not physically affect myself, although mentally, it did make me realise how dangerous and serious fires can be.

As stated above, the Baltimore tunnel fire was successfully managed, since there were neither serious injuries nor fatality. However, the general consensus from the fire aftermath reflection or lessons learned are that the city needed an upgraded emergency preparedness policy on hazardous spills and fires in enclosed spaces; in addition, the critics also called for an improved process and protocol for the dissemination of evacuation information to the Baltimoreans. Truly, had the cargo on board the derailed CSX freight train being hazardous, the outcome of the Baltimore fire would have been disastrous. The case studies depicted moments of near misses that could have resulted in fatalities or serious injuries had the fire been more threatening.

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was one of the largest disasters in American history. Practically overnight the great city of Chicago was destroyed. Before the fire there was a large drought causing everything to be dry and flammable, then a fire broke out in the O’Leary’s barn and spread throughout the city. Many attempts were made to put out the fire but there were too many errors and problems in the beginning. After the fire many people were left homeless and had to help build their city again (Murphy, 39)

The Ohio State Penitentiary fire claimed the lives of many in 1930. The fire was set with the intent of causing a distraction to allow a few to escape the prison walls. This did not go to plan and instead, the prison was set ablaze when everyone was locked securely in their cells for the evening. It quickly got out of control and the fire, combined with poor prison conditions, lead to the death of 322 victims becoming the worst prison fire in the world at the time. From this tragedy, new fire codes were developed as well as new measures taken in the prison system to assure such a situation never happen again. The country hasn’t faced a tragedy like this since.

Disasters are common when the right precautions are forgotten. When a disaster happens, the technology used to extinguish the disaster is modernized. The Great Fire of London was a disaster that could have been prevented. The Great Fire caused the people of London to grieve because they lost so much, but also to learn from their mistakes to prevent it from happening in the future.

The 146 deaths caused by the Triangle fire were not looked over. This fire is said to be one that changed America because that is exactly what it did. The work done the following year created a series of new laws in the 1913 legislation that was “unmatched to that time in American history.” (Von Drehle 215) The Tammany Twins, Robert Wagner in Senate and Al Smith in the Assembly, completely recast the labor law of the nation’s largest state by pushing through twenty-five bills. Laws such as mandatory fire drills in large shops, unlocked doors that swing outwards, and automatic sprinklers in high rise buildings, were enforced by the Factory Commissions push through of a “complete reorganization of the state Department of Labor.” (Von Drehle 215)

Being in a supreme state of shock, we had no idea of the things that should have been done. The raging fire was fast approaching, yet we still did not know what to bring first. Appliances over clothing? Clothing over photographs? Photographs over documents? Nonetheless, after reaching the gates of the compound, as pungent fumes filled our lungs, I saw my family bursting into tears. We were wailing with nothing on our hands but ourselves. From a distance, we glimpsed how the fiery agilely spread itself over the area, engulfing each entity on its

At 4;30 pm. on March 25, some workers began to put on their coats and hats so that they would be ready to leave at 5. But everyone was looking to having sunday off. At 4;45, a fire suddenly broke out on the 8th floor. Screaming and crying, they raced for the exit doors, only to find them locked. Elevator

The biggest contribution of this fire disaster was the ignition of the pyrotechnics in the backstage and the uneducated patrons on the band 's act or presentation. Some of the decisions making with problems were minor for example of assistance of untrained staff, delay of egress process, non-existing fire sprinkler systems in the building, inadequate exit fire doors and over the maximum limit capacity inside the building. If all these major and minor corrective actions were implemented before the show, then this tragedy is nowhere to be at reported.