“Fireproof”, this is how the 5 week old Iroquois Theater was described before there was a fire that killed over 600 people. The fire has been described as “the worst theater fire in American history” (Ford). When the theater opened on November 23rd 1903, the construction had not been completed. City codes were violated and the fire protection systems were not installed. Many lessons were learned and new regulations and codes were implemented after the disaster. Following is a look at how the fire started, why so many people lost their lives and the code changes that were created to prevent the same mistakes from happening again. The theater was being built with “fire-resistive materials” but the construction was behind schedule and the owners decided to open the theater early. By opening early the fire protection features were missing. This included ventilators that were not in operation, exits not marked properly or blocked with drapes, no alarm system, and no automatic sprinklers. The only fire protection that the building had was a few cans of Kilfyre, a chemical flame-dousing compound. The building owners, managers and fire department were all aware of this yet the theater was allowed to open …show more content…
A stage worker had to run to the fire station and alert firefighters as there was also no telephone in the stage area. Once alerted, firefighters stopped at the closest fire box, number 26, to sound the first alarm at 3:33pm. The First Alarm was a minute later that officially confirmed the fire and 9 minutes later a 4-11(fire confirmed and four engines sent) alarm was sounded. By the time the firefighters had arrived, they could not open most of the doors because of the bodies piled against them. They extinguished what remained of the fire in 30 minutes and once they gained entry inside, they were met with silence. No one left inside was