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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory:
The Fire That Ignited a Change in Worker Rights
The Fire
The Event Itself
The tragic events of the fire resulted from a series of insufficient safety measures.
Fire Escape: The only fire escape collapsed, leaving the workers trapped.
Elevators: Only one of four elevators in the factory was fully operational with a maximum capacity of 12 people. It made four trips back and forth before breaking down and many plunged to their death by jumping into the elevator shaft.
Stairwells: Washington Place staircase was locked. Greene Street staircase was blocked by flames.
Firefighters: The ladders were not long enough and the nets were not strong enough to save the workers who leapt. In desperation, 58 people died from jumping through the window.
Locked Doors: In order to prevent the infiltration of union organizers, the doors of each floor were locked. Many on the 9th floor died due to being unable to open the locked doors.
A total of 146 victims perished and It took several days to identify those made unrecognizable by the flames. Six were not identified until 2011.
"This lock, with the bolt shot, was found after the fire, in the debris about the ninth-floor door, through which more than a hundred girls attempted vainly to escape. The locking of this door was one of the charges on which Max Blanck and Isaac Harris were indicted for manslaughter." Photograph. 1911. Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center for Labor-Management, Documentation & Archives, Triangle Factory Fire Online Exhibit.
"I never got a dime's worth of help from the company."
~ Celia Walker Freidman, survivor
"Firefighters struggle to extinguish the burning Asch Building," Photograph. March 25, 1911. Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center for Labor-Management, Documentation & Archives, Triangle Factory Fire Online Exhibit.
Survivor interview with Dora Maisler, by Sigmund Arywitz, April 12, 1957, Cornell University, Kheel Center
Brown Brothers. "Firefighters from Ladder Company 20 arrived at the Triangle Waist Company minutes after the alarm was sounded and sprayed water at the burning Asch Building," Photograph, March 25, 1911. Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center for Labor-Management, Documentation & Archives, Triangle Factory Fire Online Exhibit.
"Firefighters arrived at the Asch Building soon after the alarm was sounded but ladders only reached the sixth floor and the high pressure pumps of the day could not raise the water pressure needed to extinguish the flames on the highest floors of the ten-story building. In this fireproof factory, 146 young men, women, and children lost their lives, and many others were seriously injured." Photograph. March 25, 1922. Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center for Labor-Management, Documentation & Archives, Triangle Factory Fire Online Exhibit.
"I didn't know there was a fire escape."
~ Rose Indursky, survivor