Triangle: the Fire That Changed America Essay

“The ‘Triangle’ company, “With blood this name will be written in the history of the American workers’ movement, and with feeling will this history recall the names of the strikers of this shop- of the crusaders” (Von Drehle 86). Even before it happen, the Forward predicted the terrible disaster of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory that occurred one year, one month, and seventeen days later (86). Triangle: The Fire that Changed America, by David Von Drehle tells the story of the horrible fire.

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was one of the largest disasters in American history. Practically overnight the great city of Chicago was destroyed. Before the fire there was a large drought causing everything to be dry and flammable, then a fire broke out in the O’Leary’s barn and spread throughout the city. Many attempts were made to put out the fire but there were too many errors and problems in the beginning. After the fire many people were left homeless and had to help build their city again (Murphy, 39)

The 146 deaths caused by the Triangle fire were not looked over. This fire is said to be one that changed America because that is exactly what it did. The work done the following year created a series of new laws in the 1913 legislation that was “unmatched to that time in American history.” (Von Drehle 215) The Tammany Twins, Robert Wagner in Senate and Al Smith in the Assembly, completely recast the labor law of the nation’s largest state by pushing through twenty-five bills. Laws such as mandatory fire drills in large shops, unlocked doors that swing outwards, and automatic sprinklers in high rise buildings, were enforced by the Factory Commissions push through of a “complete reorganization of the state Department of Labor.” (Von Drehle 215)

This tragic fire demonstrated how the fire inspections and precautions were noticeably lacking safety for these workers even though “a little more than five months before the tragedy Firemen Edward F. O’Conner made a routine inspection and said the Asch Building was ‘good’ and the building was ‘fireproof’”(28). The fire finally died down with over one hundred dead bodies piled along the streets. Sunday morning “thousands of people began to form into a slowly moving parade around the city blocks”(89). The people were walking in honor of these workers and would go around trying to identify the bodies and confiscate any items the bodies my have possessed for reminiscences. On the other hand, the departments felt immediate quilt for not stepping in to fix the Asch building before, because the departments knew of the horrible safety and health precautions the Asch building had but nobody emphasized the problems. “But who was to blame?” (113). Chief Croker was quick to blame

On the afternoon of March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in the 10-floor Asch Building, a block east of Manhattan's Washington Square. This is where 500 mostly young immigrant girls were producing shirts for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Within minutes, it spread to consume the building's upper three stories. Firemen at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside: their ladders weren't tall enough. Exits were locked, and the narrow fire escapes were inadequate. Panicked, many jumped from the windows to their deaths. People on the street watched in horror. The flames were under control in less than a half hour, but 146 people perished, 123 of them women. It was the worst disaster in the city's history.

     Near closing time on Saturday afternoon, March 25, 1911, in New York City a fire broke out on the top floors of the Asch Building in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. One of the worst tragedies in American history it was know as the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. It was a disaster that took the lives of 146 young immigrant workers. A fire that broke out in a cramped sweatshop that trapped many inside and killed 146 people.

While all three of the documents listed numerous similarities between them, they also went into depth about some issues that the others did not. Among the similarities noted all three of the documents mentioned fire prevention & education, training, and being accountable. These documents listed the ways that we can educated the public, both young and old on how to prevent fires, in and around the home, school, and office. They stressed the need for fire drills, educational seminars, and site safety programs. At some point all of the documents addressed the need for sprinkles in buildings, both large and small, or wherever you will have a congregation of people. Since these documents have been made public, many communities across the

The book, TRIANGLE The Fire that Changed America, written by David Von Drehle, is set in New York City primarily in the tenements of the Lower East Side and in Greenwich Village. The story provides a detailed account of life as an immigrant during the early 1900s, the garment workers strikes, the corrupt political structure of the time, several eye witness accounts of the blaze that killed 146, the missing safety procedures that could have saved them, the trial that attempted to bring the owners to justice and finally the political change and work force standards that came about as a result of the tragic event.

On March 25 of 1911, many immigrant girls were working at the New York Triangle Shirtwaist Factory like they always did; however, something extremely tragic happened that day as they were about to leave. The building caught on fire and 145 lives were taken by it. (Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire) Although the origin of the fire did not start because of Max and Isaac, the owners of the Triangle Factory, Max and Isaac, were often blamed for not taking the steps to prevent the fire. The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, although tragic, resulted in a positive outcome as it brought reforms to conditions in factories and led to the creation of building safety and regulation laws which would benefit people in the longer run.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was located on the top three floors of the Asch Building. This factory was owned by Max Blanck and Isaac Harris. The Triangle factory was known as a sweatshop, employing teenage immigrant girls that did not speak English. They would work for 12 hours a day and get paid only $15 a week. Th owners of the factory have had a history of starting fires on purpose so they could get insurance money, this fire was not one of those times. Although the men may have thought of starting a fire because they did not install sprinklers throughout the factory. The Triangle factory had four elevators, but only one was working at the time of the fire. On Saturday, March 25, 1911, there were 600 people working when a fire started in a rag bin. A manager tried to put the fire out with a hose, but the hose was rotted away and the valve was rusted shut. The one elevator could hold 12 people and had managed to make four trips down and back before breaking. Some woman then fell to there death at the bottom of the elevator. Other woman went down a stairwell and were greeted by a locked door and burned to death. The firefighters could only reach the 7th floor which was not very helpful considering that the fire was on the eighth. After being trapped by the fire, many women decided to jump from the building, dying from the fall rather than the fire. In the end, 145 people died in this historic

I came back in town for the Fourth, but Atlanta doesn't seem to have as abundant firework displays as California. They canceled two firework events this year and I LOVE gazing into the sky at the kaleidoscope of colors. I stated, "People, this is America and even though the South was butt-kicked by the North, it's time to man up. No, you can’t have your slaves back, nonetheless pick up a damn sparkler and light it!" Personally, since Trump left the country it was an evening to celebrate. (No offense if you're a Trumpster.)

The San Francisco earthquake is one of the worst natural disasters to ever occur in history. The earthquake started at about 5:15 AM on April 18th of 1906 in San Francisco, California. The ground shook for only a minute but it ignited a fire that lasted three days, straight. The fires spread all around the area and caused so much damage that it killed hundreds of people and made over one-hundred thousand homeless. The damage also costed millions of dollars to repair. People panicked and someone even said, “The Lord sent it, the Lord!” Someone also got caught in the wreckage and knew he couldn’t make it out alive, so a policeman shot him in the head. Many tried to distinguish the fires but they didn’t put them out. Finally, three days after

On September 2, 1666, a small fire starts at a bakeshop and transforms into a blazing inferno. The fire disaster brought forth changes in fire fighting methods as well as building codes and laws, and fire-resistant structures. Besides, insurance companies emerged from the aftermath.

On Saturday, March 5th the work day was ending at the triangle shirt waste factory when suddenly a fire broke out. In the 30 minutes the fire raged 146 workers aged from 11 to 17 died. Due to the poor conditions of the factory allowed the fire to spread quickly. Many girls decided to jump rather than burn to death falling 10 floors to their deaths. Many tried for the emergency exits but they were locked and the emergency hoses had no pressure.

Other worker grievances such as poor working conditions and long labor hours (10 to 12 hours per day), were the main concern of workers. Safe working conditions were a major concern of employees. It was a common practice of the time to lock down factories. This practice was to insure workers stayed at their work stations and to keep people from stealing. This practice landed in the front pages in 1911 as a result of a fire in New York City’s garment district at the Triangle Shirtwaist factory. Ross (2011) notes that, this was one of the most iconic yet tragic incidents in US history when 146 people lost their lives during the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Ross (2011) further expresses the cruelty and abuse that employees were subject to during this time period as workers tried desperately to escape the inferno only to find that the doors were locked in an effort to prevent employee theft. There was no doubt that, New Yorkers who witnessed women jumping out the windows of the building and landing on the hard sidewalks below, caused life-long trauma to those who observed this horrific event. The tragedy at Triangle Shirtwaste and the public outcry for safe working conditions resulted in government enacting work place safety laws. The