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Triangle Factory Fire Essay

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ER #3 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Emily Refici SUNY American History Mrs. Paventi Liverpool High School The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, a catastrophic event that occurred in 1911, remains an important moment in American industrial history. This tragedy, which claimed the lives of 146 garment workers, predominantly young immigrant women, highlighted the dangerous working conditions they faced in the rapidly growing garment industry of the time. Laissez-faire - a political French expression referring to governments' resistance to meddle with the functioning of the market economy, is illustrated in this as there was no government involvement concerning worker safety. The disaster served as a wake-up call for the need to prioritize …show more content…

This factory was a prime example of a sweatshop, employing young immigrant women and children who couldn't speak English, rendering them unable to protest their working conditions. They toiled away side by side at sewing machines for twelve-hour stretches without any breaks. On March 25, 1911, a tragic fire broke out in the factory, allegedly caused by a burning cigarette butt that fell into a trash can filled with tissue and fabric scraps. This devastating incident led to the loss of 146 lives. Amy Feldman from Forbes provides further details regarding the garment workers experience during the fire, she writes; "Many things went wrong that day. There were no sprinklers, which weren’t then required by law. ... But there was also apparently a locked exit door, and questions after the tragedy about whether Blanck and Harris—who were both on the tenth floor that day and survived by running to the roof—were responsible for it. " (Feldman, 2019) Due to the Laissez-Faire approach, proper fire drill procedures were absent, as safe working conditions were merely suggested rather than enforced. As a result, the factory didn't possess the necessary tools to extinguish the fire. Only two out of four elevators functioned, the fire escape was damaged, and it was too short and weak to support anyone. The importance of this lies in the fact that the fire …show more content…

There were unhygienic situations that were subtly endangering the workers' health, inadequate fire-escape provisions, and a lack of fire prevention measures everywhere. Thus, it was necessary to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth research of the overall circumstances of workplace life. The Governor and State Legislature were presented with these facts by the Committee on Safety of the City of New York. Change was finally happening, “The massacre for which they were responsible did finally compel the city to enact reform.” (History.com, 2021) As a result, the commission passed in June of 1911. This is significant because following the fire, laws requiring social security, a 40-hour workweek, a minimum wage, and a prohibition on child labor were put into effect, changing labor laws for

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Most of the people who were working in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory were on a strike before the fire for working rights and safety precautions. If the owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory followed the safety precautions the strike was proposing, the fire could have been prevented, and would have saved many lives. According to source 5, the doors were locked, long wooden tables became obstacles, and boxes crowded the exit. All of that could have easily been prevented. Also, higher class people were also involved in the strike which made it bigger and more popular to people.

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Finally, they have revealed the cause of the fire. According to the Triangle book, cigarette was the cause of the fire and due to the cottons (which is flammable), oxygen (explosively) papers, woods, and materials it grew bigger and blazed the workers killing them in instant that they had no time to

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Beers’ remarks about the fire escape were true, as it collapsed during the fire from the weight of the employees trying to escape quickly. This staircase was not even up to code with the New York laws pertaining to fire escapes. The law left the decision to an inspector to decide and in this case, it was specified that the fire escape was to lead down to something more than just a skylight (The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Trial, New York Law, P. 2). In the original building plans, it was designed to be up to

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Bernstien had put out previous fires at the Triangle factory, and they had all been extinguished by hand. But, on this day in March, Bernstien grabbed the hose to extinguish the fire, but no water came out of the hose. As he struggled with getting the water to work, the fire over took many layers of flimsy cotton, and tissue paper making the fire spread. Drehle argues that this was one of the greatest tragedies of the event. Everyone could have possibly been saved, if only the alarm had been sounded immediately.

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On March 25, 1911 in New York City, one of the most tragic disasters on record in the history of American industry transpired. This horrendous event will forever be known as The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. Somewhere near closing time on that horrific Saturday afternoon, a fire broke out on the top three floors of the Asch building which were being occupied by the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Within minutes chaos arose, everything had erupted into madness, forever disrupting the lives of hundreds of young workers. When the fire was over, 146 of the 500 employees had died an extremely miserable death during the disastrous event.

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It is said that a woman carelessly tossing a lit cigarette in the cutting room was the cause of the fire. The women working in the 8th floor were in a state of panic as they were trying to leave the room but the doors were locked. Luckily, they found a way to exit the room. Most of the women in the 8th floor were able to use the elevator to escape, until it stopped working due to rising heat. Unfortunately, those working in the 9th floor were stuck with no way to escape as the emergency exit collapsed, leaving the women with two difficult choices, to either die by the flames, or jump off the 9th floor.

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was a devastating fire that killed 146 girls in New York City (Leap for Life, Leap for Death). At this time, citizens of New York were furious and demanded that the government do something to prevent future tragedies. The government responded and the reforms that the government made, it changed the future of New York industry. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, one of history’s deadliest fires, came as a result of outrageously unsafe working conditions, led to a high death toll and injury total, but, ultimately resulted in reforms that helped safeguard future factory workers.

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Legislation also provided for fire drills and the installation of fire alarm systems in factory buildings over two stories high that employed 25 people or more above the first floor. Additional laws mandated that factory waste should not be permitted on factory floors but instead should be deposited in fireproof receptacles. Because of the bodies found in the open elevator shafts of the Asch Building, legislation was enacted that required all elevator shafts to be

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire It is unbelievable as a worker in today’s society to read about laborers working 14-20 hours, not allowed to speak the whole time, but it was a reality for workers at the turn of the 20th century. As our nation entered into the 20th century, there was a major push by the Progressives for changes in the workplace that had been going on for nearly a decade, but with no success. While the Progressive movement had sparked changes in public health, the workplace had not changed for the better. Workers in most jobs had to work long hours, at low pay, with no safety regulations. A perfect example was at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, where workers were required to work 14-20 hours a day, locked into their workspace

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The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire caught the imagination of Progressives and validated their arguments about the American economy. The factory fire broke out in late March and claimed the lives of over one hundred workers. This factory was what seemed like a normal factory in New York City on the outside, but had dangerous and unsanitary working conditions on the inside that remained unknown until the fire broke out. This calamity would help to bring new laws and regulations on factory conditions and rights for their workers.

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Blanck and Harris refused to install sprinkler systems and take other safety measures in case they needed to burn down their shops

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Without the presence of such utilities, the workers were placed in immense danger, and during the fire, “since there were no alarms to inform employees about the incident, many workers on the ninth floor were unaware of the fire until a significant amount of smoke and flames had spread to their area, making escape more difficult. Workers on the tenth floor, however, learned of the fire over the telephone” (“Triangle” 2022). Moreover, in addition to the lack of fire utilities, the elevators in the building were also not capable of their job during the fire. Despite the four elevators, only two were operable, but they were useless and impractical as they could only fit twelve people at a time. In the event that many people had to escape, the limit on the elevators was far too small, providing the guarantee that not everyone would make it out.

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On March 25, 1911 a fire broke out on the eighth floor of the Asch Building in New York City. This horrific fire greatly impacted the nation. The death of 146 workers in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire were caused by negligence on the part of the owners of the factory and the laissez-faire practices of the state of New York

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The detrimental Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire is considered to be one of the most tragic disasters in history. On March 25th, 1911, a fire broke out and killed 146 garment workers who were mostly women. These women worked countless hours with low wages and inhumane working conditions in a factory. Even though this event was tragic, the triangle shirtwaist fire helped to shape the new world for the better. The multitude of workers trapped within the inferno to their demise was the final straw for the mistreatment of America’s workers.

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On “March 25, 1911, a fire broke out on the top floors of the Asch Building in the Triangle Waist Company in New York City,” and as a result of the building being engulfed, 146 employees were killed (Fire!). Most of the victims burned to death, but some chose to leap from the top floors to their death in order to spare themselves the excruciating pain of being burned alive. The “Death List Shows Few Identified” article, published by the New York Times, recounts the identified dead, unidentified dead, reported missing, and injured. All in all, the article, published on March 26, 1911 (a day after the fire), reported 32 identified dead, 35 unidentified dead (where they could actually make out of human qualities), 39 unidentified dead (where they were burned beyond recognition), 21 reported missing, and 24 injured.

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