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| Iroquois Theater fire. (Chicago Tribune) |
Illinois - December 30, 112 years ago, a great fire occurred in the Iroquois Theater in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Guests in it became a victim in the accident.
More than 600 people dying that day, December 30, 1903.
The accident was also touted as a theater deadliest fire in US history. The fire that blocked the whole way out and lack of a rescue plan to be the cause most deaths.
The Iroquois Theater designed by Benjamin Marshall in Renaissance style, the building is actually a very luxurious and considered fireproof. But it was not so.
"Undoubtedly, the building was completely fireproof," said Buildings Commissioner of Chicago, George Williams, and Ed Laughlin fire inspectors who inspect the theater a month earlier in November 1903, as quoted from History.com.
They also reported that there were 30 exit at the theater, 27 of which are double doors.
At the same time, William Clendenin Fireproof which was a magazine editor who also checks the Iroquois, wrote a scathing editorial about the dangers of fire in the building. He reported that there are many pieces of wood there, there was no fire alarm and no automatic sprinkler system.
Accidents happened when the afternoon show Eddie Foy, Mr. Bluebeard. 27 of 30 exits the theater locked. Stage manager, Bill Carlton located on the front to watch the show with 2,000 guests, while others exit the theater for a drink.
That spotlight operator who first realized that one of the lights of calcium triggers fire appeared backstage. Do not take a long time, the area containing the stage props of wood and fabric flammable.
When the fire began to grow on the back of the stage, the stage star, Foy tried to calm the crowd, telling them to remain seated. Asbestos curtain was lowered hopes to limit the flames from the audience.
But when the curtain was not completely down, panic began to break.
The curtains were originally expected to be a barrier of fire just burnt. Shortly, all the lights in the theater dead and a stampede occurred near the exit open.
When the back door opened, the air shifts caused fireball appeared and exploded backstage.
Workers in the theater began to flee, remember to open the emergency exits were locked. Some forced open a door that can be four feet above the sidewalk. It was that slow the process out.
Most of the victims died, 591 people were on the balcony. They can not go anywhere, there is no emergency stairs or ladders to help save themselves to jump out.
The bodies were finally piled up near the exit of the narrow balcony. Some people are also buried and managed to come out alive from beneath it.
In the aftermath of the disaster, Williams then charged and convicted. Even with the mayor of Chicago. Theater owners punished for poor safety rules cause a fire.
On the same date in 2000, a series of bomb blasts went off in a number of places in Metro Manila, Philippines. 22 killed and hundreds wounded.
While on December 30, 2014, a plane crash AirAsia QZ8501 who disappeared while flying from Surabaya to Singapore got a glimmer of a bright spot. Debris flying boat was reportedly found.
