Iroquois Theatre Disaster
Lessons Learned From the 1903 Iroquois Disaster
Rebekah Beach
March 02, 2010
The Iroquois Theatre
Highly advertised as being “absolutely fireproof”, The Iroquois Theatre was as fireproof as the Titanic was unsinkable. On December 30th, of the year 1903, five weeks after The Iroquois opened, The Iroquois Theatre did indeed burn. The fire was so bad that in just under 8 minutes it roared through the theatre claiming 602 lives and injuring at least 250 others (Foy, 1995). According to the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA), this fire is by far the deadliest theatre fire in American history and is the fifth deadliest of all American fires. The Iroquois fire took more lives than even the Great Chicago fire of 1871. What makes this fire even more devastating, if that is even possible, is that it was mostly women and children that were in the theatre when it was destroyed (Brandt, 2003). What happened that made this theatre burn and how come so many lives were lost in such a short span of time? What could have been done to prevent this devastation and what can we learn from this to prevent future tragedies?
What Happened
The Iroquois Theatre was finished only 5 weeks before the blaze. The opening had been delayed due to labor turmoil (Brandt, 2003) and despite the construction not being complete the developers Harry J. Powers and William J. Davis wanted to open. The two wanted to take advantage of the holiday crowds and ignored obvious safety hazards and code compliance issues. A few days before the theatre was set to open, a Chicago Fire Department Captain came in and toured the facility. He noted that there were no extinguishers, sprinklers, alarms, telephones, or water connections. In fact the only equipment the theatre had to combat fire was canisters of ‘Kilfyre’ which was traditionally used for chimneys in residential homes (Hatch, 2003). The building was definitely not up to the codes and requirements that the city of Chicago had put
Rebekah Beach
March 02, 2010
The Iroquois Theatre
Highly advertised as being “absolutely fireproof”, The Iroquois Theatre was as fireproof as the Titanic was unsinkable. On December 30th, of the year 1903, five weeks after The Iroquois opened, The Iroquois Theatre did indeed burn. The fire was so bad that in just under 8 minutes it roared through the theatre claiming 602 lives and injuring at least 250 others (Foy, 1995). According to the National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA), this fire is by far the deadliest theatre fire in American history and is the fifth deadliest of all American fires. The Iroquois fire took more lives than even the Great Chicago fire of 1871. What makes this fire even more devastating, if that is even possible, is that it was mostly women and children that were in the theatre when it was destroyed (Brandt, 2003). What happened that made this theatre burn and how come so many lives were lost in such a short span of time? What could have been done to prevent this devastation and what can we learn from this to prevent future tragedies?
What Happened
The Iroquois Theatre was finished only 5 weeks before the blaze. The opening had been delayed due to labor turmoil (Brandt, 2003) and despite the construction not being complete the developers Harry J. Powers and William J. Davis wanted to open. The two wanted to take advantage of the holiday crowds and ignored obvious safety hazards and code compliance issues. A few days before the theatre was set to open, a Chicago Fire Department Captain came in and toured the facility. He noted that there were no extinguishers, sprinklers, alarms, telephones, or water connections. In fact the only equipment the theatre had to combat fire was canisters of ‘Kilfyre’ which was traditionally used for chimneys in residential homes (Hatch, 2003). The building was definitely not up to the codes and requirements that the city of Chicago had put
References: Bloch, A. (1978). Murphy 's Law, and Other Reasons Why Things Go Wrong. Price/Stern/Sloan Publishers, Inc. Retrieved March 2, 2010 Brandt, N. (2003). Chicago Death Trap: The Iroquois Theatre Fire of 1903. Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press. Foy, E. (1995, July/August). A tragedy remembered. NFPA, 75-79. Retrieved March 1, 2010 Hatch, A. (2003). Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster, 1903. Chicago: Academy Chicago Publishers. Hendrixson, B. (n.d.). America 's Worst Theater Fire. Retrieved March 2, 2010, from http://www.allaboutstuff.com/General/Americas_Worst_Theater_Fire.asp Montrose Cemetery. (2008). Retrieved March 2, 2010, from http://graveyards.com/IL/Cook/montrose/iroquois.html Santayana, G. (2005). In Life of Reason (p. 284). Scribner 's. Retrieved March 3, 2010 Sauberman, J. (2009, August 9). 602 Lives – The Iroquois Theater Fire of 1903. Retrieved March 1, 2010 from http://journeytofirefighter.com/