Essay On Iroquois Theater Fire

The Iroquois theatre was said to be the most finest and elegant theatre in the USA. It was advertised as fire proof and totally safe by bribed Chicago city officials and building inspectors. On Dec 30, 1903, the Iroquois was packed with almost 2,000 people who were watching the sold-out Holiday play called “Bluebeard”. The fire started backstage and quickly spread through the entire Theatre. The Management had locked the Fire Exits and most outside doors to keep people from sneaking into the show. There was no escape for 602 people, many of those being children. The fire set many standards for firefighting as well as building codes across America. The Iroquois was the newest edition to the Chicago theatre district centered on Randolph Street. It was designed to be one of most beautiful theatres around at that
time. It had marble staircases, elegant draperies, and over 200 lamps in the main lobby. The architect of the theatre, Benjamin Marshall said before the theatre opened he had studied every theatre disaster in history so he could avoid problems at the Iroquois. He stated in the event of a fire, if all 30 exits were used, the theatre could be emptied within 5 minutes. The By the fall of 1903, construction of the Iroquois was behind schedule for the Nov 23rd grand opening date. Because of this, a lot of corners were cut, building inspectors were paid off with free tickets to make sure the theatre opened on time. When the theatre opened, it did not have any fire proofing. It didn’t have an alarm box, no sprinkler system, and no backstage telephone. On December 30, the shows’ 1600 seats were sold out and close to 2,000 people were packed in, some with only standing room at the back. Some of the exit doors were bolted shut to keep people from sneaking in. There were also gates pulled across some areas to keep people with cheaper seats from getting into the more expensive seat area. The fire started around 3:15pm behind the stage during the second act. An arc light had shorted out backstage, and sparks then ignited the curtains. At first, people thought the red glow was just a part of the special effects of the play, but then pieces of flaming curtains started to come down on the stage. The house fireman started shouting for the asbestos curtain to be lowered and for someone to pull the alarm box, but there was no alarm box back stage. By this time the audience knew the fire was out of control and started running for the exits. They could not find any exit signs, apparently, the architect found them distracting. People could not get out, the doors were locked, gates were blocking their way and some doors lead nowhere. The asbestos curtain finally started to come down but then got stuck on a piece of equipment. At the same time the cast had just pushed open a back door. The cold air rushed in and mixed with the heated air and the curtain burst into flames and flew up into the balcony area. Many in that area were killed instantly. It was later found out the asbestos curtain wasn’t even an asbestos curtain at all, but one made from cheaper, very flammable material. Some people were lucky enough to find unlocked doors, but many of those doors were designed to open in inward. With all the people trying to get out, it made opening these doors impossible. Some fire escapes on the upper level were also a dead end. The fire escape stairs were not built yet. Some people jumped and did not survive. 602 people died this day, most of them were women and children. A lot of people knew about the problems and no one did anything about it. At first, many people received blame for this event; the mayor, the building commissioner, the building owner, and the building architect. In the end, no one was jailed or even fined. There was evidence that the building design was poor and that it lacked adequate safety features. The theatre had a capacity of 1602 people, but on this date, there were more then 2000 in attendance. There were no exit signs or a sprinkler system. The doors opened inward, and many were locked. There was no alarm box or telephone to call for help. The theater was equipped with 30 exits and 27 of these were locked. Upstairs’ exits were not completed. Even after all this evidence came out, the architect, owners and others were all found innocent because they did not place the light where it could burn the curtains. The tragic fire had a huge impact on the fire service as well as building construction.
Many high occupancy buildings are now constructed with panic hardware. Panic hardware is used to keep a door locked from the outside, but unlocks when someone pushes on it from the inside. Building code also requires to have signs posted to notify occupants of where the exits are in the building. Doors must now swing outwards to aid in proper escape as doors that swing inward will cause obstruction and reduce total escape time. It is now against the law to have any obstructions in the way of a fire escape route.

The Iroquois theater fire was the worst single building fire in American history as well as the deadliest. With the high number of injuries and deaths this fire had, it is no wonder why it set such high standards for firefighting as well as building construction for us today. It is a tragedy that only after a fire that had taken the lives of over 600 people did we realize and implement these safety standards. Something as simple as installing exit signs and outward swinging doors are key factors that may have saved hundreds of lives that
night.