The Cocoanut Grove fire is considered to be one of the worst fires in history. The Cocoanut Grove nightclub opened in Boston, Massachusetts in 1927 as a speak-easy bar (An illegal bar during the time of prohibition). The Grove as what the locals called it was a very busy club and had something for everyone. It had a large dining area with a dance floor and if guests were lucky enough they got to see special appearances of the rich and famous. The basement of the Grove had its own little place known as The Melody Lounge witch was dark and intimate. It was a very busy club for its time, but on 28 November, 1942 that all changed. On the night of 28 November, 1942 nobody knew that this night would be the last night that The Cocoanut Grove nightclub would be opened and for 492 of the occupants in the club it would be there last night. The club was busy that night because it was the Saturday after thanksgiving and there was a very highly anticipated game between Boston College and Holy Cross and also marked the one year of the Pearl Harbor bombings. The club was filled with people coming from the game celebrating …show more content…
wide. Once the fire reached the top of the stairwell it then proceeded down a corridor which lead to The Cocoanut Grove. The occupants of the building was equaled out to 1000 which was 400 people over the maximum occupancy of 600. Once the fire broke out many of the people that was in the building as trying to exit through the fire exits that where open that night because many of them was locked or was blocked off by false walls. The main exit that was open was in the front of the building through the revolving door. It was a struggle for them to find the exits due to the smoke that was blocking out the lights and there was no use of emergency lights and they had to find the exits on their own due to no exit signs