1977 — June 26, Arson Fire, Inmates/Visitors, Maury County Jail, Columbia, TN — 42

— 42  Mills, Kimberly. “Maury County Jail Fire, Maury County, TN, June 26, 1977.”

— 42  NFPA. “42 Die in Maury County, Tennessee, Jail Fire.” Fire Journal, March 1978, 30-33.

— 42  National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.

— 42  National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 137.

— 42  National Fire Sprinkler Association.  F.Y.I. 1999, 7.

 

Narrative Information

 

Mills:  “On June 26, 1977, a fire in the Maury County Jail killed 42 people. The fire was started by Andy Zimmer, who had run away from a residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed teenagers in Dousman, Wisconsin. Police had picked up Zimmer earlier in the week on Interstate 65 for hitchhiking. While in custody at the Maury County Jail, he set fire to his padded cell, causing toxic gases and smoke to fill the jail through the ventilation system. Deputies were able to pull Zimmer from his cell, but other deputies, trying to free the rest of the jail’s population, collided with panicked visitors and the only set of cell keys was knocked to the floor. It took several minutes to recover them, and by then most of the inmates had already succumbed to asphyxiation.

 

“Overall, 42 people were killed: 34 inmates and 8 visitors. An additional 30 people suffered injuries. Zimmer was taken to Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville with burns covering 25% of his body and was listed in critical condition. Facility inspectors had given the Maury County Jail a passing grade only the week before, citing that it met all necessary standards and ranking it 18th in a field of 102. However, the jail did not require a sprinkler system, nor was there an automatic cell lock system that could have been used to free all the inmates quickly; instead, each cell had to be individually unlocked, effectively trapping the jail’s inhabitants in the fire.

 

“The majority of the jail’s inmates were not convicts; most were recent arrests still awaiting trial. In addition to inmates, visitors to the jail also became trapped during the panic that ensued after the fire began to spread. In one tragic case the Herman family, visiting a relative in jail awaiting trial, lost six family members.”  (Mills, Kimberly. “Maury County Jail Fire, Maury County, TN, June 26, 1977.” Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, TN.)

 

Sources

 

Mills, Kimberly. “Maury County Jail Fire, Maury County, TN, June 26, 1977.” Tennessee State Library and Archives, Nashville, TN. Accessed 3-14-2013 at: http://www.tennessee.gov/tsla/exhibits/disasters/fires.htm

 

National Fire Protection Association. “42 Die in Maury County, Tennessee, Jail Fire.” Fire Journal, March 1978, pp. 30-33. Accessed 5-29-2015 at: www.nfpa.org/…/fire…/maury-count

 

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996, 2010. Accessed 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

 

National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 1983.

 

National Fire Sprinkler Association, Inc. F.Y.I. – Fire Sprinkler Facts. Patterson, NY: NFSA, November 1999, 8 pages. Accessed at: http://www.firemarshals.org/data/File/docs/College%20Dorm/Administrators/F1%20-%20FIRE%20SPRINKLER%20FACTS.pdf