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Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Essay

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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. In 1911, the 275 girls died that day had only 27 buckets of water (Leap for Life, Leap for Death). The wildfire was spreading quickly on the ninth and eighth floor and the fire departments hose could not reach all the way. “19 bodies were found charred against the locked doors. 25 bodies were found huddled in a cloak room” (Leap for Life, Leap for Death). Most of the girls also decided to jump out of the …show more content…

Firemen searched the building searching if their was any evidence on how the fire was started and discovered something even more important. They figured out that during the fire the doors were locked which prevented the girls to get out of the building. “... we never went out the front door. We always went one by one out the back. There was a man there searching, because the people were afraid we would take something, so that door was always locked” (Leap for Life, Leap for Death). The front doors of the factory would always be locked because the owners Isaac Harris and Max Blanck thought one of the employees might steal something from the factory. When they tried to go downstairs, the flames of the fire burned them that prevented them to try leave the building. The factory owners were charged for manslaughter after the fire. A few years later they were acquitted and let out of

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While they would wait for the elevator, they realized it’s not going to come back up, a lot of the workers jumped down and died quickly. While some tried to run down the stairwells, the doors were locked at the bottom and they were burned alive. Some of the workers, along with the owners escaped to the roof, and jumped from roof to roof to escape the fire. As firefighters began to show up, they started to witness a horrible scene. The women, who did not make it to the stairs or to the elevator, began to jump out of the window.

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Remembering the Triangle Shirtwaist fire Disaster hit March 25, 1911 at 4:40 pm at the Triangle Shirt Waste Factory when it caught on fire by a cigarette bud or burning match. The employees were mainly young women and girls of Italian and Jewish decent and 146 died that day. The workers wanted out of the building but one of the doors was locked in the stairwell. Speculation was that Isaac Harris locked the door. Some of the women and girls jumped off the building and out the windows to trying to survive which was interfering with the firemen trying to put out the fire.

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For the workers as well as the owners, who were above the fire, they were able to escape through the roof. On the eighth floor, panic began to set in as many of the realized they’re was no way out. The elevator could only hold twelve people, and after making four trips up and down, the elevator broke down. In an attempt to escape, many of the girls

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On March 25, 1911, a fire started at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that claimed the lives of one hundred and forty-six workers. As a result of the fire, trials and debates occurred that contended the factory owners right to control their business against their duty to implement safe working conditions for their employees. Despite the trial resulting in no charges for the business owners the triangle fire is responsible for stricter safety codes and brought attention on the labor movement. In order to fully understand the changes that resulted because of the shirtwaist fire, you must first know what life was life prior to the fire.

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The fire was recorded as the most horrible and deadly fire until 9/11. ( Linder,Douglas. “The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Trial: An Account”) (“Albert,Martin. Flesh & Blood So Cheap”) Some people blamed the the building as a fire hazard how doors would open from the inside and how many many highly flammable materials were scattered out.

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The manager at the time of the fire attempted to put to the fire using a fire hose but it was unsuccessful, as the hose was rusted shut from not being used. As the fire began to spread, panic began to increase. The frantic workers ran to the elevator but it could only hold 12 people at a time, and could only make 4 trips until it broke down due to the heat of the flames. Others fled to the stairs, only to find a locked door, many were burned alive. Many girls took a drastic measure and plunged out the windows to their deaths, the dead jumpers piled up along the cement.

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It was later discovered that the fire had probably started when a worker disposed a cigarette or match into a rag bin containing three hundred pounds of thin, oxygen-rich, cotton fabric. It was also estimated that there was a total of more than one ton of those cotton scraps in the upper three floors of the factory. “In that brief span, the fire did more killing than any other workplace disaster in New York City history up to that time, or for ninety years afterward.” It was considered “the worst industrial fire in American history.” The fire was one of the most important and biggest factors in the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment.

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The book Triangle: The Fire That Changed America written by David Von Drehle recounts the dreadful incident of fire that broke out in a Triangle Shirtwaist factory on March 25, 1911 and its aftermath. In the earlier part of nineteenth century Triangle Shirtwaist factory was running a lucrative business in a multistory building in the New York City. The factory was owned by the two men Isaac Harris and Max Blank and it was located on the upper three stories of the Asch Building which was back then considered and projected as an efficient fireproof building (History). On that unfortunate day, fifteen minutes of fire gulped one hundred and forty-six innocent lives who were struggling to keep themselves and their families afloat(CBS).

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Of the 142 lives the fire had claimed at least 125 of those people were woman or just mere teenagers. This fire was horrific as people from the street so women jumping from the bulding to their deaths in order to escape the fiery hell. Some bodies were so charred family members could only recognize them by the cloth threw wore and the trinkets they had. However, the owners are still to blame for this tragedy. Their lack of taking proper safety measures caused the death of 141 people.

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In 1911, a tragedy happened in the great state of New York. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire put a huge hole in many citizens hearts as lives were lost and injuries were severe and some untreatable back in the days. With one hundred and six lives that were lost and seventy-one people injured, this event was the most deadliest in the New York city until the terrorist attack ninety years later and still remains one of the deadliest in the United States. It affected America socially, politically and economically by owners being unfair, women not being treated equally and victims not getting the care they needed or deserved.

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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.

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