The Coconut Grove fire has become one of the worst fires in history that caused many devastating deaths. No one could have predicted the fire to warn everyone who attended that night. Not having the accurate safety measures in the building such as exit sings and open windows with no coverings could have saved many lives that night. It has become a lesson to America, but it has created fire codes and regulations to prevent future fires that can harm people and their surroundings. It also provided a positive view by creating better treatments for severe burns for the people who survived the fire. This essay will explain why this event has been important to U.S. history and the positive things it brought to America. On November 28, 1942, many people gathered to enjoy a social party at the Coconut Grove Night Club in Boston, Massachusetts. The club had gained its popularity over time and made it the number one hot spot for …show more content…
Windows were covered with plywood, staff would not let the patrons out without paying their open tab, and the revolving door became an obstacle since it did not have doors on each side. Chairs and tables caught on fire, making it difficult for the guest to reach the main entrance. Piles of people accumulated as the toxic smoke began to suffocate as the crowd of people who rushed for safety. 492 people lost their lives in their attempt to escape the wild flames and only a few survivors were taken to the nearest hospital. Many of the survivors who found a way out of the Coconut Grove club, had critical injuries from the fire. The patients were studied to create new treatments for severe burns and about 400 lawsuits were filed against Coconut Grove from the fire. Some officials and part of the management had charges, and Welansky was sentenced 15 years in prison for the tragic event on the
No two people are truly the same, therefore creating a mass difference in outlooks when experiencing things. This is seen in the writings of authors Linda Thomas and Joan Didion in their separate essays, Brush Fire and The Santa Ana. Theses essays revolve around the same experience both authors share of the Santa Ana wildfire in southern California, but in different perspective. In Brush Fire, Linda Thomas gives the reader a more beautiful insight on wildfires while Joan Didion has a more serious and disheartening perspective on them, which each author paints in their own way.
The nightclub, is an aged small wood structure in Rhode Island. The club is reported to have a capacity of 182 people. On February 20th 2003, more then 400 fans packed into the small club to see a band. Although there are discrepancies between reports of how many people were in attendance, it is obvious that the number is well over twice the club's capacity.
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.
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.
Mrs. Rayfield wrote a great article about the devastation left over after this massive fire. I found that her accounts were very detailed and had good pictures to go along with them. I decided to use this source in my essay because she also showed the good effect that the fire had on the city not only the bad. She had a complete different point of view.
David Von Drehle’s Triangle: The Fire That Changed America explores the experiences of people and impacts of the Triangle fire. Drehle is currently an author and journalist, graduating from Oxford University with a master’s degree in literature and has written several articles for magazines such as The Washington Post and Time. Drehle wrote this piece to explain to the reader that the fire was the catalyst for change and reform across the nation.
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)
When the fire had broken out in a rag bin on the eighth floor, it caused a commotion between all the girls. They tried to put the fire out, but when the manager tried hosing it down, the hose was rotted and it’s valve was rusted shut. At first it started off as a small-scale dispute, but then the fire caught on all of the clothes and then spread to the higher parts of the building, trapping them all.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire is a turning point in history because, unions gained powerful alliances and people who wanted to fight for their safety. Which now in the U.S there is a set of guidelines that need to be follow to ensure the safety of the employees. He writes: “The Triangle fire of March 25, 1911, was for ninety years the deadliest workplace disaster in New York history—and the most important (Von Drehle 3).” Von Drehle emphasizes how important this event is in history and he draw comparisons to the to
On March 25, 1911, the deadliest industrial fire in Manhattan, New York City history occurred, forever changing the view Americans held regarding factory workers and safety. One-hundred and forty-six workers, primarily young women immigrants, perished when flames overtook the Triangle Shirtwaist factory in New York’s Greenwich Village. Especially on the seventh, eighth, and ninth floors of the Asch building, one would find overcrowded rooms with rows of sewing machines, workers, and their materials. As panicked workers scrambled to find safety from the rising flames, they would soon discover that only one exit door was unlocked; a fire escape apparatus reaching only to the sixth floor.
Fire played a very important role in the lives of the early Fond du Lac pioneers. It provided people with heat, light, and a means to cook. Almost every home in Fond du Lac had some sort of stove or fireplace. If a fire got out of control, that house and surrounding homes were in danger of burning down. As the town’s population grew larger and larger, the number of fire sources went up as well. The chances of a fire getting out of control were growing quickly. People soon began to fear the inevitable.
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.
At the time of the fire the only safety measures available for the workers were 27 buckets of water and a fire escape that would collapse when people tried to use them. Most of the doors were locked and those that were not locked only opened inwards and were effectively held shut by the onrush of workers escaping the fire. As the clothing materials feed the fire workers tried to escape anyway they could. 25 passengers flung themselves down the elevator shaft trying to escape the fire. Their bodies rained blood and coins down onto the employees who made it into the elevator cars. Engine Company 72 and 33 were the first on the scene. To add to the already bleak situation the water streams from their hoses could only reach the 7th floor. Their ladders could only reach between the 6th and 7th floor. 19 bodies were found charred against the locked doors. 25 bodies were found huddled in a cloakroom. These deaths, although horrible, was not what changed the feelings toward government regulation. Upon finding that they could not use the doors to escape and the fire burning at their clothes and hair, the girls of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, aged mostly between 13 and 23 years of age, jumped 9 stories to their death. One after another the girls jumped to their deaths on the concrete over one hundred of feet below. Sometimes the girls jumped three and four at a time. On lookers watched in horror as body after body fell to the earth. "Thud -- dead; thud -- dead; thud -- dead; thud -- dead.
The Big Burn: Teddy Roosevelt and the Fire That Saved America is about Teddy Roosevelt’s attempt to save the beautiful scenery of the West. Roosevelt used his presidency as a springboard to campaign his want of protection for our woodlands, while doing this he created the Forest Service from this battle. In this book Timothy Egan explores the Northern Rockies to analyze the worst wildfire in United States history. This disaster is known as the “Big Burn,” the 1910 fire quickly engulfed three million acres of land in Idaho, Montana and Washington, completely burned frontier towns and left a smoke cloud so thick that it hovered over multiple cities even after the flames had been extinguished.
I have no passion or desire to write about a thunderous destruction of a city or the death of hundreds of people. Yes, I have no connection to this topic, besides my home being 30 minutes from downtown Chicago, but that does not mean that this fire does not pertain to me or anyone who lives in a completely different state for that matter. So, just because I have never experienced a disaster of this magnitude does not mean that my lips should stay shut regarding the topic of the Great Chicago Fire. What must be done is to look at events and, for that matter, life in a certain perspective that is not always one-sided. This one-sidedness can come from focusing on a particular outcome without realizing what else can come from that desired outcome.