After the triangle fire was the Coconut Grove (Marta's oldest 1/2 sister survived added Babe's photo

[Omaha Steve]

Marta's oldest 1/2 sister Babe was a dancer on stage that night. She went to a second floor window with another dancer and jumped out. One of the few to survive.

Edit: Babe is 5 years younger than Marta's mother. Babe was born in 1921.

Babe a few weeks before the fire:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire

The Cocoanut Grove was a nightclub in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. On November 28, 1942, the fashionable nightclub burned in what remains the deadliest nightclub fire in United States history, killing 492 people and injuring hundreds more. It is also the second-worst single-building fire in American history; only the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago in 1903 killed more (602). The tragedy shocked the nation and briefly replaced World War II news headlines. The fire led to a reform of fire codes and safety standards across the country and prompted a seminal study of grief. The club's owner, Barney Welansky, who had boasted of his ties to the Mafia and to Boston Mayor Maurice J. Tobin, was eventually found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Much more at link.




In 1993, the Bay Village Neighborhood Association built a memorial into the brick ground on Piedmont Street, where the club formerly stood.

[Poll_Blind]

1. When people complain about excessive safety laws I always bring up...

...the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Coconut Grove. The accounts from both (but especially the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire) are absolutely harrowing reads, even today.

PB

[Captain Hilts]

2. They changed the fire codes for good and for the better. nt

[roguevalley]

10. how beautiful was she, her pretty hair so coiffed and all.

[MadMaddie]

3. Don't forget about Our Lady of the Angels School fire

This fire changed school fire codes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_the_Angels_School_fire
<snip>
A total of 92 pupils and 3 nuns lost their lives ,
<snip>

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. I was in grade school when that occurred only 90 miles from where I lived

It really scared us, and rumors ran wild among my classmates.

[Berry Cool]

18. In Cleveland we had the Collinwood school fire, with much the same result:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collinwood_school_fire

Killed 172 students, two teachers and a rescuer.

[Arctic Dave]

4. Next time you walk out of a building and the doors swing out, remember why they do that.

Fire and Life Safety Codes are written in blood.

[conscious evolution]

6. I will not go into a crowded

building that has inward opening doors.
Especially bars and clubs.
You would be surprised at how many places still have inward opening doors here in the south and overseas.

[conscious evolution]

5. I used to be in the fire detection/suppression biz

Virtually everyone in the business is very familar with these and other fire tragedies such as the Wycoff Hotel fire(140+ fatalities iirc) in Atlanta Ga.(That building still stands)
Underwriters Laboratories,the National Electrical Code,Life Safety Code 101 and many other rules and regulations are the direct result of those fires.
Many of us say those codes are written in fire,smoke and blood.

[RKP5637]

7. I might change that IMHO just slightly to read...

"... those codes are written in fire, smoke, blood and pain. I'm thinking of the physical and emotional pain of the victims surviving and the family, friends and nation of the victims and the deceased.

[TheCowsCameHome]

8. A friend (he's still alive) had reservations at the Grove that night

He cancelled when he was called to run an extra troop train from Cape Cod to New Haven.

[Gormy Cuss]

9. Everyone that I knew in Boston who was alive then remembers the news coverage

and some of my friends name those among the dead who were neighbors and family. The South End/ Bay Village area had a hopping nightclub scene at that time.

[jkshaw]

11. I remember reading about this fire, Steve

I was twelve years old.

[Historic NY]

12. wrote a paper on panic & mass hysteria many yrs ago spoke with CG witness...

CG was so bad they got volunteers from the Navy to help remove the bodies. My witness was one of them, the bodies were like cord wood inside the entrance. It wasn't unlike the Rhode Island night club fire. So close but so far from safety..

[charlie]

13. 100 dead only 7 years ago

because the idiots in Great White set off pyrotechnics in a low-ceiling club. The time it took from ignition to massive calamity was under 5 minutes.

[slampoet]

14. The real idiots in the fire were the owners of the club and the fire inspectors on the TAKE.

The reporters who owned the club bought non-fireproof foam that they knew would burst into flame and they used their connections to the local govt to make sure that the city of west Warwick didn't fully inspect the club.

[charlie]

16. Yeah, them too

Nearly everyone involved in that whole rotten affair got nicked for fines or prison time. Even the TV station covering the event was cited for obstructing the exit. I still think though, that setting off flame fountains in a small club is inexcusably stupid.

[Omaha Steve]

17. It seems we never learn

Thank you all for the comments.

[eppur_se_muova]

19. And yet ...

when the WTC towers were constructed, they were built with fewer stairwells, particularly in the upper floors, than had been required in previous years, due to recent changes in the construction codes. While more stairwells would not have saved everyone, it is likely that far fewer people would have been trapped on the upper floors when the collisions and fires caused the accessible stairways to be blocked.