Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

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The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was an event that held relevance in American history. On March, 25, 1911 at approximately 4:40 PM a fire broke out in the company's factory in New York City which was the deadliest industrial disaster. 147 workers died in that incident, they either died from the fire or jumped from the window. It was considered the most tragic fire incident in New York City. "The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment workers' Union, which fought for better and safer working conditions for sweatshop workers in that industry" (Wikipedia) The fire occurred due to the poor and unsafe working condition in the factory. The Shirtwaist Factory was located on the Asch Building in Manhattan. The working area was crowded with young workers. There were about 500 workers on the top three floors. On the ninth floor, there were approximately 288 machines and 308 employers. The machines took up a lot of space in the room, so they were all close to each other. The investigation reported that the greatest number of death occurred on the ninth floor. Also, the area was unclean due to the fact that it is a garment factory which there was pieces of cloth scattered on the floor. According to the fire marshal, this mess caused the fire to grow very quickly that they some workers had no time to escape. Also, the doors were locked to prevent the workers from stealing and leaving early. In my opinion, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory lacked of safety and cleaning environment. This was hundreds years ago, that's why it lacked of firefighting equipment because back in the day, things were different. Thus, all factories lacked of safety conditions. However, the fire marshal concluded that cigarettes caused the fire. They could be wrong.
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