Summary Of Fire In The Coconut Grove

Description of the Book (Introduction):
The book assigned was Fire in the Grove, The Coconut Grove Tragedy and its Aftermath by John C. Esposito. This book discusses a nightclub tragedy that was the outcome of careless and greedy management. The Coconut Grove belonged to Braney Welansky, who was not at the site during the fire. The building itself was not built up to the code standards at that time and the manager was cutting corners. The result of this tragedy was the death of 492 people, out of the 1,000 people present. The deaths were mainly caused by a lack of exits and windows, flammable materials, faulty wiring, and overcrowding. Throughout this report, the sources used discuss the following: ASCE Code of Ethics, what contributed to

Description of the Fire:
On November 28, 1942, in Boston, Massachusetts, a devastating fire erupted in a well-known nightclub at that time. It all started around 10:15 PM and lasted until 10:23 PM. It was a short, yet powerful fire that left almost 500 people dead. The fire started when a customer detached a lightbulb in the corner of Melody Lounge, near a palm tree. A young staff member tried to attach it back, but it was dark in the Lounge, so he lit up a match to get a better view of where to place it. Soon, there was a fire, which was deemed to be small, in the Palm tree placed in the corner. After many attempts from the staff to distinguish the fire by hand, the fire spread throughout the Grove. It spread to the basement, then up the stairs, to the foyer room, and to the room with a retractable roof in a span of eight minutes. The Coconut Grove was a single-story building with a basement. The main floor consisted of the dining area, dance floor, and stage for performances. There were three main rooms. The main dining room had a dance floor, a stage, and a bar. There was a new section opened on the main floor called the New Broadway Lounge,

The first major contribution was the shut exits. There were nine possible exits in the Grove, not including the windows. The first two exits were the revolving door (main entrance) on Piedmont street and a single door opening to two more doors that got customers to Broadway, but it was difficult to work with since it was a door that opened inwards (Esposito, 42). The rest of the exits were familiar to employees. The exits were mostly bolted shut, locked, or had a wooden bar across them. Not only that but it was often blocked by arcades, barricaded by a temporary wooden coatrack that hung across it or had extra tables placed in front of it. Most of the doors were disguised and barricaded. The windows were hidden by curtains or had false walls in front of it. (Esposito, chapters 3 and 4). In the law at that time, revolving doors were not accepted as exits (NFPA Journal, 8). However, in the Grove, the revolving doors were the main entrance, and one of the only exits the patrons could identify. Sadly, owners try to cut corners and earn more money by putting others at risk. By locking doors and barricading them, owners could prevent people from sneaking in and out without paying their dues. Another element that contributed to the fire was that almost all of the decorations were flammable. Although when the owner and vendors who