1913 — Dec 2, Fire, Arcadia Boarding House (“Hotel”/Flop House), Boston, MA — 28

–28  Boston Fire Historical Society. Boston’s Fire Trail. 2007, p. 42.

–28  Indus. Com. WI. “Why the State Regulates Buildings,” Safety Engineering, 1914, 283.

–28  NFPA. “Arcadia Hotel Fire, Boston.” Quarterly of the [NFPA]. V7, N3, Jan 1914, p. 356.

–28  National Fire Protection Association.  Key Dates in Fire History.  1996.

–28  Safety Engineering,  “Boston’s Lodging House Holocaust.” 26/6, Dec, 1913, p. 425.

–28  Safety Engineering, “Phases of Fire Prevention Teachers Should Know,” 31/4, 1916, 201.

–28  Ward. “Hotel Fires: Landmarks in Flames…,” Firehouse, March 1978, p. 41.

 

Narrative Information

 

Boston Fire Historical Society: “At the turn of the century, the South End was a busy, congested area with numerous tenements and lodging houses. Laconia Street was located only a couple of blocks from the busy Dover Street area, with its station for the old Boston Elevated Railway, better known as “the EL.” Among the so-called “flophouses” was the Arcadia Lodging House on Washington Street at the corner of Laconia Street. The five-story brick building had a mansard roof, a spiral staircase in the front and a balcony fire escape in the rear and could accommodate 243 men. On December 2, 1913, 159 men had registered, paying fifteen, twenty or twenty-five cents for a bed. About 2:00 a.m. on December 3, a fire started in a first-floor closet.  The blaze may have been an accident, or it may have been set intentionally by a man who was refused admittance earlier in the evening. Eighteen­-year-old Warren Crowell, who was sitting in the reading room as he did not have money for a room, discovered the fire. He alerted the night clerk, James Welsh, and the night watchman, Arthur McGlynn, who started to wake residents. McGlynn ran down the stairs, through the flames and sounded the alarm at 2:04 a.m. at Box 771 at Washington Street and Cottage Place. But McGlynn, in his hurry, failed to ring the house alarm and shut the door behind him— actions he would come to regret deeply.

 

“By the time Engine Company 3 and Ladder Company 3 arrived, the building was fully involved, with residents crying for help at windows. At least two had already jumped to their deaths. The only escape was by firefighter ladders, as there were no outside fire escapes. Several residents went to the roof and managed to cross over to the building next door. The final death toll was twenty-eight, of which eighteen were burned beyond recognition and could not be identified….” (Boston Fire Historical Society. Boston’s Fire Trail. 2007, pp. 42-43).

 

NFPA 1914: “One of the worst holocausts in the history of Boston took place on December 2, 1913, when twenty-eight men lost their lives in a fire in the Arcadia Hotel at 1202 Washington Street. The building was five stories in height with brick walls and wooden interior finish throughout. The only exits were a wooden stairway at the front and the fire escape shown in the photograph at the rear. The ground floor was occupied by a saloon, shooting gallery, etc., while the four upper floors were occupied as a low- priced lodging house for men. The fifth floor was one large dormitory filled with double-decked iron beds located as closely together as possible, while the lower floors were divided into small rooms by means of flimsy wooden partitions which reached part way to the ceiling. These partitions not only furnished an abundance of material for the fire to feed upon, but were in part to blame for the large loss of life, in that they greatly hindered the escape of those sleeping on these floors.

 

“The exact cause of the fire, which started under the stairway, has not been definitely determined. The flames, aided by the draft from the street, spread rapidly up the stairways and into the different floors, which were soon a mass of fire, due to the inflammable material. It is claimed by some of the lodgers that no alarm was sounded in the building. Those located on the fifth floor were able to reach the fire escapes at the back of the build­ing, but many in the third and fourth floors were unable to get across to the fire escapes because of the partitions and rapid progress of the flames, and as escape by the stairways was cut off they either rushed to a nearby win­dow or perished where they stood. An alarm had called the city depart­ment, which responded promptly and did most excellent work.  Many who had rushed to the windows either jumped or were overcome before the arrival of the department, although many others were saved by life nets or ladders. The actual fire was soon extinguished and did not cause a very large damage to property.

 

“Several different investigations have been held, but other than to bring out more clearly the inadequacy of existing laws and their methods of enforcement, there does not seem to have been a great deal accomplished. The first conclusion to be drawn is the necessity of equipping such build­ings with automatic sprinklers, which, even if they had not extinguished the fire, would have given prompt warning and probably held it in check until all could have escaped.

 

“To allow buildings so constructed and maintained to be used for such a purpose is little short of criminal negligence.”  (National Fire Protection Association.  “Arcadia Hotel Fire, Boston.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association. Vol. 7, No. 3, Jan 1914, pp. 356-357.)

 

Safety Engineering, Dec 1913: “Death’s busy reaper, fire, harvested 28 lives in the “Hotel” Arcadia, a cheap lodging house for men in Boston’s South End, early in the morning, De­cember 3. More than two-score were in­jured, four seriously. Only a few of the bodies of the dead were fire-scarred, so speedily and effectively did the firemen attack the flames; even the excelsior mattresses in the beds were not com­pletely consumed. According to the hotel register 155 men were in the build­ing before the fire.

 

“The “Hotel” Arcadia, which was one of the chain of Lyons lodging houses that will be found in all large cities, was housed in a 5-story brick, mansard roof building, owned by one M. H. Gulesain, situ­ated at the corner of Washington and Laconia  streets. The building will be spoken of in the present tense as it was not damaged beyond the possi­bility of restoration which is apt to be of the nature that existed before the fire. The building fronts on Washing­ton street; it has a 4-story flat roof ell in the rear. The construction is the usual quick-burn­ing variety typical of the mansard roof era of archi­tecture; the floors are thin boards on thin joists and the holes and inequali­ties of studs and beams are covered with a veneer of lath and plaster.  A spiral stairway rises from the second to the top story absolutely devoid of any enclosure. An open fire escape on the rear wall of the building is the only other means of descent.

 

“The “hotel” occupied all of the build­ing above the grade story in which were a shooting gallery and a stock of liquors. The “hotel” office and reading room were in the second story, also a number of sleeping “rooms.” The third story con­tained sleeping “rooms” exclusively, the fourth both “rooms” and “bunks,” and the fifth story was an open dormitory filled with double-tier iron beds or “bunks.” The “rooms” were small en­closures, made with thin board partitions between the tops of which and the ceilings there was a space of several feet.

 

“About 2 a. m. a man dozing in a chair in the read­ing room noticed smoke ascending the stairway. He called to the clerk and the watchman who were in the office. It was re­ported that the watchman ran im­mediately to the nearest fire alarm box in the street and the clerk to alarm the sleepers in the building. The fire started in a closet under the “hotel” entrance stairway which rises from the front door to the second story. Fanned by the draft through the open doorway the flames and deadly gases of incipient combustion mount­ed quickly to the upper stories through the open stairway.

 

“The first alarm was received at 2:05 a. m., the sec­ond at 2:10 a. m., and the third at 2:12 a. m. Engine No. 3 and truck No. 3 were the first companies to respond. These companies are quartered in one station in Harrison street in the rear of the hotel, and as they “rolled” up Laconia street by the side of the burning building the firemen saw men in the win­dows ready to jump. In an in­stant ladders were raised on two sides of the building and a number of men rescued. The men of No. 3 engine company worked a line of hose up the stairway and, to­gether with  the crews of other companies that fol­lowed, soon extin­guished the fire, and so effectively did they do it that the stairway was not badly burned.

 

“All of the lodg­ers that escaped were out of the building within ten minutes after the fire started. From the dormitory in the top story a number escaped by way of the flat roof on the annex and roofs of buildings across a narrow al­ley which some leaped over before it was bridged with planks. The men in the fourth story fared the worst. The only available exit to the rear fire escape was through a small bath room; the doors in “rooms” through which this escape could have been reached had been locked by the oc­cupants. Bad as that was the fatal lure of the false signs “Fire Escapes” on the Washington street wall in each story was far worse. There were no fire escapes on the front of the building, and the frantic men seeking to escape that way were trapped and suffocated to death. The fortunates in this story and those below reached safety by way of the fire escape.

 

“Such was the worst holocaust in Boston’s, history. It was not exceeded even by the great fire of 1872, in which ten firemen and four citizens were killed. But the building stands, at once mute testimony of the ability of Boston fire­men and of the inability of the law to command conditions of safety.

 

“Despite the loss of life the fire was in­significant because of the excellent work of the firemen, for which great praise is due them, but as quick as they were and though early the discovery and alarm and response, the fire was quicker.

 

INVESTIGATIONS FOLLOWING THE FIRE.

 

“The usual hysterical investigations fol­lowed the fire, the only difference being that Boston broke the record in the num­ber conducted — eight were under way at one time, including the nocturnal pere­grinations of the mayor among other lodging houses. The grand jury could not find sufficient evidence to warrant the indictment of any one for responsi­bility for the holocaust. Think of it! Twenty-eight men killed and nobody re­sponsible! If not actuated by a higher motive the jury could have saved its face by indicting the State of Massachusetts.

 

“The several investigations disclosed the origin of the fire and the reasons for the loss of life. The fire originated in rubbish in barrels in the closet under the stairway in the first story and, according to reports, was caused by rats and matches. The State police, whose duty it is to find the cause of the fire, is re­ported as opposed to the theory that the poorly arranged steam boiler in the cellar under the closet was the cause. The evidence acquired by the grand jury showed that the building commissioner had not made an effort to enforce an order issued October 24, directing the owner of the building to provide addi­tional fire escapes. It was learned that the manual fire alarm system in the house was not used, the clerk ran through the building arousing the lodgers.

FACTS REVEALED BY THE FIRE.

 

“To the safety engineer this fire re­veals these facts:

 

“The fire was caused by an easily pre­ventable condition, i. e., rubbish in un­covered receptacles in a closet.

 

“The fire would have been discovered almost immediately by an automatic fire alarm. As it was the fire had prog­ressed beyond the incipient stage when it was discovered.

 

“Precious moments were lost in send­ing an alarm to the fire department from the street box. Buildings of this character should have a special fire alarm box in the office.

 

“The open stairway was the chief cause of the loss of life. Had the stair­way been enclosed the fire department would have been able to hold the fire in the first story.

 

“An automatic sprinkler would have put out the fire with less water than a barrel will hold, killed a dramatic story and saved the city of Boston a foul blot on its record.

 

AS TO AUTOMATIC SPRINKLERS.

 

The Boston American gives the fol­lowing as one of the “real causes” for the sacrifice of “28 human lives”:

 

“Absence of automatic fire sprink­lers and of fire extinguishing devices, which are cheap and handy enough to have in any building.”

 

“After the fire Mayor Fitzgerald issued a statement, a part of which fol­lows:

 

“When I went into the building I saw a large amount of rubbish under the stairways, and Fire Commissioner Cole told me that it is his belief that the fire caught in this way. He also in­forms me that if automatic sprinklers had been in use the fire never would have gotten any headway. Last year I peti­tioned the legislature for laws which would compel the installation of fire sprinklers in premises of this kind.  I contend now, as I did a year ago and have always contended, that auto­matic sprinklers should be put in every room where human beings work or sleep.”

 

“Fire Commissioner Cole was re­ported to have said:

 

“The sprinkler system in a building with the ‘heads’ in every closet and corner, will stop, if not extinguish practically every fire at its inception.”

 

“Chicago thinks well of automatic sprinkler protection against fire in lodging houses. Why should not Bos­ton, Baltimore, Batavia and even New York City, think likewise?

 

“Automatic sprinklers, however, are devices of active fire control. There is another phase to consider in connec­tion with this lodging house fire and that is passive fire-resistance, which is the ability of a building to resist fire. If Gulesain’s building had been im­proved just a little in the way of stair enclosures, how simple it would have been for the fire department to have controlled the blaze. To be sure the ultimate fire-resistance of the building, even with the stairway enclosed, would have been as weak as it proved to be, but anything in a building that will help confine a fire where it originates for five minutes only will help a fire department immensely and stairway enclosures is one way above all others that will help. That this feature is re­garded as being highly dangerous is demonstrated in one most certain way, if not in others, and that is, the stair­ways in the combustible school build­ings in New York City have been en­closed with steel framing glazed with wireglass.

 

INDICT BOSTON FOR ARCADIA HOLOCAUST.

 

“The responsibility for the Arcadia fire is not upon the mayor or the police com­missioner or the building inspector or the owner of the house or its lessee, but the responsibility is upon the entire com­munity, because we tolerate insufficient laws, insufficient executives, and such housing conditions as would discredit a community just emerging from bar­barism,” said Charles Fleischer at a Sun­day Commons in Boston recently.

 

“A horror like that Arcadia fire, which made human torches of twenty-eight helpless men, gets on our imagination for a moment. But, instead of holding our­selves individually and communally re­sponsible, we try to place the blame upon the mayor, or the police commissioner, or the building inspector, or the owner, or all of them. Yes, the fault is theirs — but ours also.”

 

FIRE-TRAP OWNERS SCOREDBY A PREACHER.

 

“Some of the worst fire traps in our cities are owned by men of eminent re­spectability, who adorn the pews of our strongest churches,” was the part of a sermon preached by the pastor of the First Congregational Church in Brock­ton, Mass., recently.

 

Continuing, he said, “They sing with evident sincerity, ‘Rescue the perishing! Care for the dying! Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave!’ forgetting that the block they rent for a 15-cent ‘shake­down’ is a rickety firebox.””  (Safety Engineering. “Boston’s Lodging House Holocaust.”, V.26,  N.6, Dec 1913, pp. 425-428.)

 

Safety Engineering, 1916:  “The Arcadia Lodging House fire is another example of the failure of outside fire escapes. In this fire twenty-eight men lost their lives. Flames poured up the one stairway in the building, cutting off that means of escape almost immedi­ately. The fire quickly blocked the ex­posed fire escapes on the upper floors. Since the fire new escapes extend around three sides of the building and swinging stairs leading to the street have been installed.”  (Safety Engineering. “Phases of Fire Prevention Teachers Should Know,” Vol. 31, No. 4, 1916, p. 201.)

 

Sources

 

Boston Fire Historical Society. Boston’s Fire Trail: A Walk Through the City’s Fire and Firefighting History. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2007.

 

Industrial Commission of  Wisconsin. “Why the State Regulates Buildings,” Safety Engineering, Vol. 28, No’s 1-6, July-December, 1914, p. 283. Accessed 9-22-2017 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=a9YMAAAAYAAJ&dq=editions:LCCNsc80000582&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s

 

National Fire Protection Association. “Arcadia Hotel Fire, Boston.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 7, No. 3, January 1914, p. 356.

 

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at:  http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

 

Safety Engineering. Vol. 26, No’s 1-6, July-December, 1913. NY: Safety Press, Inc., 1913. At: http://books.google.com/books?id=L9YMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:LCCNsc80000582&lr

 

Safety Engineering. Vol. 31, No’s. 1-6, January-June, 1916. NY: Safety Press, Inc., 1916. At:  http://books.google.com/books?id=mtcMAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=editions:LCCNsc80000582&lr

 

Ward, Neale. “Hotel Fires: Landmarks in Flames, History’s Famous Hotel Fires,” Firehouse, March 1978, pp. 40-45.