In the days following the tragic fire, 350,000 New Yorkers marched in the funeral procession with the victims’ families. The fire sparked anger in the public due to the preventability of the fire and the discovery of suspicious fires in buildings owned by Blanck and Harris to receive insurance checks. The public pinned the blame on them. With their reputations tarnished, the “Shirtwaist Kings” could never return to their former glory. 

 "When the bodies didnt crash through the deadlights, they lay there on the sidewalk three or four high, burning, and we had to play the hoses on them." 

 ​​​​​​​~ Frank Rubino, Fire Department Captian

 "When the fatal Triangle fire occurred in this building the employees not only had no fire drills, but they were so placed at work that they blocked their own access from the floors. In most of the large factories throughout New York City Fire Department inspectors now insist upon ample floor space in aisles." 

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​~ Robert Adamson, Fire Commissioner 

 "For while we couldn't move. We watched in horror how bunches of women came hurtling down from the top of the bulding . . . All around us we saw people covered with blood. I got sick and could not look anymore . . . The whole night I could not sleep and in the morning I was restless." ​​​​​​​~ Eraclio Montanaro, witness on the street

 "At that time - at that time the floors - the floors were wooden floors and they were soaked through with oil, the baskets that people worked was wicker baskets and each basket - each basket contained about four to five dozen blouses, lingerie at that time. And lace"

​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​~ Max Hoff, survivor

"Investigators on roof of Asch Building - From leftto right Coroner Holzhauser, J. R ubins, and C. F. Bostwick" Photograph 1911. Cornell University, ILR School, Kheel Center for Labor-Management, Documentation & Archives, Triangle Factory Fire Online Exhibit.

“The highly inflammable materials inside caused the blaze to spread within a few minutes to the eighth and tenth floors. The employers tried to batter down the doors, said to have been locked, but were either crushed to death in the mad panic or killed by inhaling the flames and smoke. Some of them tried to get away by means of the fire escape, which broke like so much paper under their weight. When police completed their official report several days later, it was shown that 146 lives had been sniffed out by the fire.”

​​​​​​​~ The San Antionio Light ​​​​​​​

"The disaster may not come today, nor yet tomorrow; it may not come for a year, but unless conditions are changed, and radically changed, it will surely come"~ The Day Book 

The fire ignited the advocacy for higher wages, extra overtime pay, and shorter hours. The  International Ladies Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) led protests calling for better safety conditions, such as fire escapes and sprinkler systems to prevent and combat factory fires. They founded the Joint Board of Sanitary Control which worked with the NY Fire Department to issue fines and citations to 55 buildings out of compliance. In 1922, the Board convinced business owners to have fire drills.

 "These were our martyrs because what we couldn't accomplish by reasoning with the bosses, by pleading with the bosses, by arguing with the bosses, they accomplished with their deaths."

​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​~ David Dubinsky, President of the ILGWU

 "That the investigation into fire dangers of the shops was timely was dramatically exhibited in the " Triangle" fire, which, although occurring in another industry, came almost immediately after our notices, and unfortunately confirmed the contention  of the Board that a large number of the shops in the industry were defective in fire protection and would prove dangerous in case of fire. Accordingly the problem of fire protection and fire prevention became a large part of the work of the Board."

​​​​​​​~ Joint Board of Sanitary Control in the Cloak, Suit and Skirt Industry of Greater New York, 1911-1912.