Essay On Triangle Factory Fire

442 Words2 Pages

The Triangle Factory Fire on March 25, 1911 killed 146 people. There could have been more precautions and backups in case of a fire. Usual tools that could be used for preventing a fire were absent in this tragedy. The owners, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, were blamed for not supplying and making sure their factory had these fire precautions. In 1902, the Triangle Factory was burned twice and Blanck’s and Harris’s other company, Diamond Waist, was scorched twice; once in 1907 and in 1910 (1 “Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire” 3). Those fires were purposely started by them before work hours to collect large fire-insurance policies (3). That was a common act in the early 20th century (3). Though they didn’t cause the fire in 1911, it contributed to the disaster, because Blanck and Harris refused to install a sprinkler system and other safety measures in case they needed to burn down their shops again (3). This would only add to the severity of the upcoming event. …show more content…

The owners claimed that the doors were locked to prevent theft (“The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire” 2). When people tried to escape on the fire escape, it collapsed (“Unsafe Conditions For Triangle Factory Workers” 4). The elevator could also only hold 12 people at a time, causing 33 industrial laws to be passed afterwards (11). Even though new laws have been passed about these hazards, people at that time working there couldn’t do anything about