Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

Triangle Shirtwaist fire was the worst fire in the history of New York City. It occurred on march 25, 1911 in the Asch building at the northwest corner of Washington and Greene streets, where the Triangle Shirtwaist Company occupied the top three of ten floors; five hundred women were employed there, mostly Jewish immigrants between the ages of thirteen and twenty-three. Most were single women, many supported immigrant families from Russia and Italy on $2 a day.

The fire began shortly after 4:30 p.m. in the cutting room on the eighth floor, and fed by thousands of pounds of fabric it spread rapidly. Panicked workers rushed to the stairs, the freight elevator, and the fire escape. Most on the eighth and tenth floors escaped; dozens on the ninth floor died, unable to farce open the locked door the exit. The door was kept locked to keep the women at their sewing machines. The rear fire escape collapsed, killing many and eliminating an escape route for others still trapped. Some tried to slide down elevator cables but lost their grip; many more, their dresses and hair on fire, jumped to their death from open windows. fire fighters

Pump Engine Company 20 and Ladder Company 20 arrived quickly but was hindered by the bodies of victims who had jumped. The ladders of the fire department extended only to the sixth floor, and life nets broke when workers jumped in-groups of three and four. Additional companies were summoned by four more alarms transmitted in rapid succession.

ruined fire escape that killed many

ruins of building

Firemen were forced to turn their hoses on the corpses, and water cascaded into the gutter, red with blood. Around 5 p.m. the last body fell, burning. It was all over in 20 minutes. On the ninth floor, charred skeletons bent over the remains of sewing machines. A total of 146 women died in less than fifteen minutes, more than in any other fire in the city. No one really knows how the fire began – a match, a cigarette – but no one will forget "the day it rained bodies."