Essay On The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

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.

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.

Most women either died from the fire or jumped from a high height. They jumped because the fire trucks' ladders could only reach up to seventh floor. The doors were locked to prevent workers from stealing or leaving, thus, they

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire begun on March 25,1911. The fire started because someone had dropped a cigarette and started the fire. The fire started on the 8th floor of the factory, it continued up to the 9th floor. The fire killed around 145 workers. Some people jumped and killed themselves rather than getting burned alive, one jumper survived the jump.

The fire spread quickly and there were limited ways to escape. The young female workers were faced with only a couple of decisions for possible escape: jump out a window onto the street, push into the overcrowded or even non functioning elevator shaft, attempt to climb onto the building next door or most likely die horrifically as a result of burning in the fire. “The people began to throw themselves out of the windows. All the machines were bubbling with flames. I had my fur coat and hat with two feathers and a green woolen skirt which I pulled over my hat and my head.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was a tragic disaster. 146 deaths. 71 non-fatal injuries. Some survived with no injuries, but only the lucky ones. And just think about it.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was one such typical sweat shop. The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, Max Blanck and Isaac Harris, typically employed young Jewish immigrant girls who had come to the United States with their families in search of a better life for them and their loved ones. Instead, they encountered lives of relentless poverty and dismaying working conditions. Being immigrants who struggled with a new language and culture, the factory owners took advantage and made the working poor their ready

Most of the factories workers were primarily women working to be able to support themselves and help support their families but would often be locked inside of the factory to try and promote better productivity. But after a fire had broken out inside of the factory the locked doors trapped the women inside with nowhere to go. Fire escapes that had been put onto the building were so poorly made that they bended and warped from the heat of the fire burning inside of the building. Some women with now where to go tried jumping out of the building to flee the flames, other attempted to jump from the roof to another building with many not making the jump, with many other burning alive locked inside of the building. In the end there were 123 women and 23 men died in the fire, with some of the women being as young as 14 working inside of the factory.

194), large crowds of onlookers gathered on the streets and were the first witnesses to the horrors to come. Before the first engines had arrived young girls had begun leaping from the ninth floor windows, crashing through glass overhangs or wires and were crushed to death on the sidewalk below. Fireman struggled to set up their vehicles and work around an increasing number of bodies filling the sidewalks and streets. Mortified crowds looked on screaming as more girls appeared at the windows of the ninth floor and one after another jumped, landing in heaps on top of each other. Despite desperate efforts to raise ladders and spread nets there was little the firefighters could do to help the terrified women that were lining the windows of the ninth floor.

This is an example of the fires that trapped people in their homes and killed them. Another citizen named Toshinki Sasaki, was trapped under a bookshelf because of the bomb. When she heard people talking near her she yelled for help. The man realized she was too deep to get her out on his own and so he left to find help. After being gone for a long time, he returned telling Miss Sasaki, “we have no men to help you!”(Hersey 32).

They would walk home with soaked under clothing because there was no space or time for them to change. And if they rebelled a supply of replacements were there (Barry). Barry pointed out that these women are going through nobody should. As they are easily thrown out if they speak out of line but forced to live with the torturous work conditions. Their work conditions causing rebels but, women workers are easily let go.

Progressive tries to tackle many of the issues that we face today. The Progressive movement addressed the issues in factories and the liberties given to the people. With vast growth in population in concentrated areas came more technological advances. Many acts of legislation were passed during this era, especially those in the labor market. Mainly the Progressive Era had a lot of focus on the social issues of the time.

One of the main reasons the fire took such a psychological toll on the New Yorkers was because of the workers jumping to there deaths. One witness even remarked the event saying quote 'I know a new sound a terrible sound the sound of a body hitting the pavement". The inferno was also not an uncommon occurrence the triangle shirt was burned before the tragedy to collect insurance money. Knowing this information, many Jewish and women workers went on strike to secure improved working conditions. There strike in fact proved successful with the New York state legislature creating the Factory Investigating Commission.

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.

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.