1954 — March 31, Fire, Cleveland Hill Elementary School, Cheektowaga, NY — 15

–15 Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “15th Child is Dead of Burns.” 4-8-1954, p. 1.
–15 National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.
–15 National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 137.
–15 Ross 2008, Arundel Burning, p. 157.
–15 Stevens. “Flames Trap Fifteen in One-Story School.” NFPA Quarterly, 47/4, 4-1954, 331.

Narrative Information

Ross: “The real hazards of fiberboard surfaced in 1954…in Cheektowaga, New York. A small suburb of Buffalo, Cheektowaga was home to the Cleveland Hill Elementary School. During the war, numerous temporary barrack-style buildings had been added to area schools to accommodate the children of war workers. Almost ten years after the end of the war, those buildings still remained.…. an NFPA investigative report…found that the school had decided to use a classroom in one of the temporary buildings as the music room. One April morning in 1954, while thirty sixth-grade students were trying on caps and gowns for the upcoming May graduation, a fire broke out in a teacher’s workroom. It spread quickly through the workroom’s paneled wooden door and shot across the building’s fiberboard-covered ceiling corridor. In seconds the fire forced its way into the music room, trapping the mostly ten-, eleven-, and twelve-year-olds. Two teachers and the cap and gown salesmen broke out the glass panels in the huge double wooden window sashes and pushed the kids out of the jagged glass openings. Not all escaped. Ten children died in the fire. Five more, who had escaped, later died in the hospital from burns. The death toll comprised nine girls and six boys. Nineteen others were burned.” (Ross 2008, Arundel Burning, pp 155-157.)

Stevens/NFPA Fire Record Department: “Tragedy struck Cheektowaga, a fast- growing suburb of Buffalo, on March 31, 1954 when a flash fire swept through a one-story, eight room annex of the Cleveland Hill School and took the lives of 15 sixth grade children. Ten of this number burned to death at the time of the fire. Nineteen other children were burned or injured escaping through windows. One of the injured died of burns in the hospital on Thursday, April 1, three succumbed on Saturday, April 3, and the fifteenth victim died on Thursday, April 8. Of the total deaths to date, 9 were girls and 6 were boys, all aged 10 to 12 years.

“The fire apparently originated in the teachers’ workroom where stage prop¬erties were stored. Flames burned un¬detected until fire broke through the closed door of this room, flashed into the corridor and entered, through an open door, the music room (diagonally across the corridor) where 31 pupils, two teachers and a cap and gown salesman first saw the flames. It was impossible to escape through the corridor so the teachers broke windows in the room and pushed the children out into the snow until fire singed their clothes and burned their arms and necks. The teachers thought they had helped all the pupils out the windows before they themselves: leaped into the snow. When firemen had extinguished the fire, 10 bodies were found near the windows in the music room, the only occupied section of the one-story school annex.

“The cause of the fire is unknown at the present time. The rapid spread of flames is attributed to heat and gases that accumulated from the undetected fire be¬fore the flames broke through the work¬room door. The rush of air through the windows, broken by the escaping occu¬pants, and the combustible fiberboard ceiling increased the spread of fire into the music room. Fire also flashed both ways in the corridor providing further evi¬dence of the presence of a large accumu¬lation of hot gases.

“Whatever the cause, the delay in de¬tection, the absence of automatic protec¬tion, the combustible ceiling and the presence of highly combustible contents in the room of origin have resulted in the first fatal school fire, according to the NFPA Fire Record Department, since 1947 when four boys were killed in Monroe City, Mo. high school.

Construction

“The one-story, 50 ft. by 120 ft. wooden building was constructed by the Federal Government in 1941 to re¬lieve the crowded conditions brought about by the influx of defense workers into Cheektowaga.

“The roof construction con¬sisted of matched boards over wood trusses. The roof cov¬ering was asphalt shingles over asphalt building paper. Sidewalls were wood framing covered with matched sheath¬ing and clapboards. The foundation wall was concrete block. Only the north end led outside; the door on the furnace…the south end opened into a vestibule where double metal-clad doors led to a fire-resistive passageway leading to other buildings. The metal-clad doors were equipped with panic latches.

“All ceilings were combustible fiberboard panels 4 ft. square. Walls were covered with plaster board and 1 in. by 6 in. wood wainscoting up to about 4 ft. from the floor. Walls in the boys’ toilet were the only exception to this construc¬tion. These walls were plaster over gypsum lath. All floors were matched hardwood. The interior of the building was painted during the summer of 1953.

“The attic was undivided. There was a ventilating louver on each end of the attic. Loose rock wool insulation was spread in the joist channels directly on the fiberboard ceiling.

“Interior doors were of the wood panel type. Each classroom contained five double hung windows 31/2 ft. by 8 ft., each with eighteen 12 in. by 18 in. panes of glass. The distance from the floor to the window sills was 40 inches.

“Heat for the building was supplied by a coal fired, forced hot air heating sys¬tem. The system contained automatic draft controls but the fan was turned on manually and shut off automatically when the thermostat was satisfied. One large metal duct extended from the furnace to the attic and the full length of the attic where branch ducts fed the individual rooms. Manually operated dampers were distributed through the main duct so that any portion of the duct could be closed off. Sheet metal return air ducts led from the floor near the classroom windows di¬rectly to the furnace.

“Manual fire alarm boxes actuating a school fire alarm system were provided in the passageway running between the buildings. Fire department notification was by telephone to the police depart¬ment, who in turn sounded the town fire horn.

The Fire

“At 11:35 A.M., Wednesday March 31, Mrs. Melba Seibold, a teacher, and Miss June Mahany, a practice teacher, were conducting a music class of 31 pu¬pils in the music room of the wooden an-nex. A salesman, also in the room, was removing gowns from a box and hanging them in a closet; no other room in the building was occupied. The door lead¬ing to the corridor from the music room was open. The salesman remarked that it was very warm in the room and re¬moved his suit coat. Minutes later flames and smoke flashed through the door of the teachers’ workroom diagonally across the corridor. Panic immediately de¬veloped and some children ran for the open door but were met with flames and smoke that flashed into the music room. Other children in the music room ran to the windows and broke the glass with their hands and crawled or were pushed out. With heat burning their faces, arms and legs, the teachers helped all the pu-pils out that were at the windows and thinking that all children were out, leaped to the ground. Apparently the children who tried to leave by the door, although stopped by the teachers, were the 10 children who did not escape. The salesman assisted in evacuating the chil¬dren and then plunged out a window. Only two of the occupants escaped injury. A child entering the corridor from the passageway was met with a blast of fire that burned his face and hands. He turned and ran back into the passageway, leaving the metal clad doors open behind him.

“When the fire was discovered by teach¬ers in adjacent school buildings, the local alarm was sounded and the alarm tele¬phoned to police headquarters. Some teachers and the principal attempted to enter the burning structure, but were driven out by heat and smoke. Firemen of the Cleveland Hill Volunteer Fire De¬partment were having their weekly practice drill a few blocks from the school and responded quickly to the town fire horn alarm, Long hose lines were laid from the street to surround the burning structure. When flames had destroyed the roof of the building,, the exterior wall of the music room collapsed exposing the bodies of ten children on the floor of the room near the windows. Before ex¬tinguishment was completed, the entire wooden annex was destroyed but firemen prevented flames from entering the ex¬posed main school building (30 ft. dis¬tant) and stopped the spread of fire into the passageway. Some breakage of glass blocks in the main building was the only visible exposure damage.

Discussion

“The heroism of Mrs. Siebold and Miss Mahany is certainly to be commended. According to newspaper accounts of eye¬witnesses’ testimony, particularly the salesman, flames flashed into the room igniting all combustible materials such as papers, on the bulletin board, books, music, etc. Children ran screaming to the windows and towards the open door. It took tremendous courage and deter¬mination to direct the frenzied children towards escaping through the windows. Teachers in adjacent school buildings soaked their clothes with water and futilely attempted to enter the burning structure. Principal Irvin Restorff re¬peatedly attempted to gain entrance into the building without success. It seems fitting that courage such as displayed by these individuals be recognized in this report Those present indicate that fire was first seen coming through the closed door of the teachers’ workroom. The investi¬gation of the ruins indicates that the only place the floor was burned through was in the workroom adjacent to the cor¬ridor wall. This verifies the statement that the fire originated in the teachers’ work¬room. The room contained stage prop¬erties that were being painted with water base paint preparatory to a play that was to be given soon. It is reported that boys had been painting the properties on the morning of the fire. Whether the room contained other than water base paint is unknown at the present time. Several 5 gallon cans were found in the charred remains of the room and are being tested to determine, if possible, their original contents.

“There was no evidence of any fire damage to the furnace room. The fur¬nace appeared to be in good condition and there was no visible indication that the duct system had any bearing on the spread of fire.

“The actual ignition source is unknown. It is believed that fire burned undetected in the room of origin for some time ob¬taining oxygen from a partially open win¬dow…and built up a considerable amount of hot gases and unburned products of combustion. When flames finally burned through the wood panel door, the pressure of the hot gases and the draft from the open window (di¬rection and velocity of wind evident from photographs) drove flames and smoke in¬to the corridor and the music room where the children were located. Combustion of the hot unburned gases progressed in¬stantaneously. The flame front where the rapid oxidation occurred may be ascribed to the initial flash of fire and the continued rapid burning attributed to the fiberboard ceiling and the combusti¬ble contents such as papers and books. When the occupants broke the windows, an additional draft was created that further influenced the spread of fire into the music room. Newspaper reports of a dull explosion heard by neighbors and occupants of other sections of the school may be attributed to this initial rapid combustion of unburned gases.

“Until December, 1953 the entire build¬ing was used for classes and housed about 240 children. There is the possibility that this school, if fully occupied for classroom purposes, in accordance with the original purpose of its design, might well have had a fire without any loss of life or injury to the children. If every room had been in use any fire should have been discovered in time for safe evacuation of the building under regular fire drill procedures, before the fire had developed to dangerous proportions, despite the combustible fiberboard ceiling. Actually, however, one room was used for the storage of combustible materials without any of the standard safeguards, such as fire-resistive walls and ceilings, with fire doors on doorways to other parts of the building, automatic sprinkler protection, or automatic fire detection equipment.

Conclusions

“The most significant factor in this fatal fire was the delayed detection. If the fire had been discovered in its incipi¬ent stages the children could have left the building and the fire would probably have been extinguished with small damage. An automatic fire detection system operating both a local alarm bell to warn the occupants of the school and the town fire horn, or an automatic sprinkler system that would supply both the local alarm service and extinguish¬ment, might well have averted the trag¬edy.

“Whether the building construction, with the exception of the fiberboard ceil¬ing, was a major factor in the loss of life is doubtful. A similar occurrence with the same fire conditions could have taken place in a fire-resistive building lacking automatic protection and with a combus¬tible ceiling, wood panel doors and com¬bustible contents.

“A great many of the one-story school buildings that have been built recently have outside exits in each classroom. Had there been an outside exit in the music room of this building the children might have escaped the fire without injury.

“This was a wood-frame building with wooden exterior walls, the type of con¬struction often tagged as “fire trap” by the general public. However, no parents or teachers should be lulled into com¬placency because their schools have brick or stone outside walls, since the material of construction of the outside walls of a building has little influence on the safety of the people inside, and some of the worst real ‘fire traps’ are camou¬flaged by substantial looking brick or stone shells enclosing the ‘built-to-burn ¬interior’.”

“Editor’s Note

“A secret investigation into the cause of the fire is being carried out by the District Board of Education. A similar probe is being conducted under the direction of the District Attorney of Erie County. Since the Board does not include any persons ex¬perienced in the fire protection and pre¬vention field, it seems doubtful that any ad¬ditional useful information would be de¬veloped by the Board that would improve on the information in this report. It is also unlikely that the NFPA would be able to obtain any facts from the District At¬torney’s investigation. This statement is based on past experience with the Dis¬trict Attorney of Erie County in connection with a secret investigation on the fatal ex¬plosion at the Lucidol Division of Novadel¬ Agene Corp. in Town of Tonawanda, N. Y. on Sept. 23, 1953 (see page 240, January 1954 Quarterly). To date the NFPA has received no reply from the District At¬torney to our request for information on his investigation into that fatal explosion.

“The residents of Cheektowaga are much disturbed about the closed door policy of the Board of Education. The chief of the Cleveland Hill Volunteer Fire Depart¬ment (the chief who directed fire-fighting activities at this fatal fire) is concerned be¬cause he has not been asked to serve with the board during the investigation nor has he been consulted at any time.

“The April 1 issue of the Buffalo Evening News sums up the situation in the following quotation:

“Sharp criticism is in order, however, for the veil of secrecy drawn by the District School Board as it launched its investigation of the tragedy. Whatever the board’s reasons, the effect of such an un¬justified closed door policy is to raise sus¬picions or doubts about the adequacy of the probe. Every citizen, not only in Cheek¬towaga but everywhere else, has a right to the fullest possible information on the course of the investigation now under way.”

(Stevens, Richard E. “Flames Trap Fifteen in One-Story School.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 47, No. 4, Apr 1954, pp. 331-336.)

Newspapers:

March 31: “Buffalo – The bodies of nine small children were counted this afternoon in the fire-charred ruins of the Cleveland Hill elementary school annex at Cheektowaga. Authorities fear there may be more bodies in the ruins.

“Nineteen other children were injured and 15 are still unaccounted for but officials believe most if not all of these escaped from the scene and are either at home or have not reported themselves….

“The fire is believed to have followed an explosion that occurred shortly before noon today.

“Some of the injured were rushed to Meyer Memorial hospital and others to Sisters hospital. Extent of their injuries was unknown.

“The children were grouped in a music room when the boiler blew, authorities said.

“By OBSERVER press time several more sheets had been draped over still forms in the wreckage
and this was evidence the known death toll is higher. Several of the injured are known to be critically hurt. First reports said 20 children were either burned or injured. Police said the school was the Cleveland Hill Elementary Annex, a one-story structure which housed grades one to six. Seven ambulances and Fire Department rescue squads, were dispatched to the scene on Maple View Road.

“Witnesses said flames shot 50 to 60 feet into the air at the height of the blaze.

“Meyer Memorial Hospital reported “about 12 children” had been brought there, most of them in private automobiles. A hospital spokesman said “none of them appeared in critical condition although some of them were burned.” Two small boys walked into the hospital under their own power for treatment, while a little girl was carried into the emergency room suffering from burns on her hands, face and scalp. One girl, identified tentatively as Nancy Love, was admitted to Sisters Hospital. Her injuries were not known.” (Dunkirk Evening Observer, Dunkirk-Fredonia, NY. “9 Reported Dead in School Fire at Cheektowaga.” 3-31-1954, p. 1.)

April 1: “Buffalo (UP) – State, county, and town officials today began a four-way investigation of Cheektowaga’s tragic school fire which took the lives of 10 sixth grade pupils and injured 25 students and teachers.

“Seeking the cause of the worst school fire in Western New York history were the State Department of Education, Erie County Dist. Atty. John F. Dwyer, Town of Cheektowaga authorities and the school district’s five-member school board. Burton A. Stilson of Albany, engineer in the division of school buildings and grounds, arrived Wednesday night to aid in the inquiry. He said he would confer With Dwyer and school authorities.

“Preliminary investigation indicated that a heat blast caused the flash fire which engulfed the Cleveland Hill Elementary School annex in a matter of minutes at noon Wednesday. A music class of 31 students and two instructors was trapped in a 125 by 50 foot room when a wall of flames leaped through an open door.

“The fire broke out at 11:35 a.m., just a few minutes after a group of first graders left the annex. The sixth graders were in the only occupied classroom at the time. Two heroic teachers, Mrs. Melba Seibold, 38, and Miss June Mahany, 20, smashed the glass in two windows and pushed children through to safety until the flames seared the backs of their legs. Then both scrambled outside to collapse in snowbanks lining a walk.

“The charred bodies of the ten who failed to get out, all 10 and 11 years old, were found grouped near the windows. Only two of the 31 escaped unharmed.

“Eight of the injured children still were in critical condition at Meyer Memorial Hospital today. A hospital spokesman said three of these are on the “danger” list. Two other children and Mrs. Seibold were taken off the critical list during the night.

“Miss Mahany described the holocaust as a “horrible 30 second nightmare.” She said she was about to start playing the piano for the music class when she heard a loud noise and smoke and flames poured through the door leading into the corridor.

“The wooden annex to a modern brick combined elementary and high school building was leveled by the raging flames within 45 minutes. The larger brick building was not damaged. But the Board of Education ordered all schools in the district closed for the rest of the week while the investigation continues. About 2,500 pupils and 150 teachers were affected.” (Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “Thorough Investigation into Tragic Cheektowaga School Case is Launched.” 4-1-1954, p. 1.)

April 2: “Buffalo (UP) — An explosives expert said today a “tentative” conclusion had been reached as to the cause of the tragic school fire in Cheektowaga which claimed the lives of 11 children and injured 28 more persons. The expert, Albert L. Hall, Buffalo Testing Laboratories, declined to reveal his findings until he had more facts concerning the flash fire which leveled the one-story, eight-room Cleveland Hill School annex Wednesday. Others on the scene suggested a
number of causes including spontaneous combustion, arson or the furnace in the basement. The furnace was ruled out after an inspection.

“Half a dozen agencies and insurance companies, headed by state, Erie County and local authorities, plodded through the rubble Thursday and questioned numerous witnesses without making any disclosures. The lack of information coming from the secret inquiry has only served to whet the tempers of Cheektowagans who demand to know the cause of the fire.

“The 11th child fatality of the fire died in Meyer Memorial Hospital Thursday of burns which covered 90 per cent of her body. She was 11-year-old Patricia Blendowski Several other children burned in the blaze remained on the “danger” list.” (Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “Blast Experts May Know Cause of Fire.” 4-2-1954, p. 2.)

April 3: “Buffalo (UP) – The death toll rose to 14 today from the flash fire which swept through the Cleveland Hill elementary school annex as three more youthful victims died. Latest victims of the state’s worst school fire which struck in Cheektowaga Wednesday were Susan Jors, 12, Donald James Kelleher, 12, and Marlene Miller, 11, all of Cheektowaga. Two other children of the 20 persons still hospitalized were listed at Meyer Memorial Hospital as “very, very critical.”

“The three-pronged investigation into the fire resulted Friday night in the suspension of two workmen who were in charge of the school furnace after it was learned that the furnace, which was defective, had been found to be the direct cause of the explosion preceding the fire.

“The five-man board of Cheektowaga District 3 ordered Francis J. Abbot, school district building superintendent, and Richard W. Chalck, boiler custodian at the Cleveland Hill school, suspended pending completion of the investigation.

“School Attorney Kenneth W. Kitzinger said holes found in the hot air type furnace fire pot permitted gases to escape and circulate in the heating ducts. Kitzinger said the gases were carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, both flammable.” (Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “School Fire Toll Now 14.” 4-3-1954, p. 1.)

April 5: “Buffalo (UP) – Impaneling began today of a grand jury that will make an official inquiry into the tragic Cheektowaga school fire which took the lives of 14 sixth grade children. The panel will sift through information gleaned from days of testimony given by witnesses, parents of the victims, and school officials, and technical data compiled by experts in an effort to
determine the exact cause of the holocaust.

“Wrecking crews worked all day Sunday to clear away the ruins produced by last Wednesday’s fire. Only cinders could be seen on the spot where 10 of the victims perished and four more received burns that eventually proved fatal. Officials said the site was cleared to take students’ minds off the fire when school resumed today.

“Three of the injured children remained in critical condition today with burns.” (Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “School Fire Jury Being Impaneled.” 4-5-1954, p. 1.)

April 8: “Buffalo (UP) – Another sixth-grade child died early today as the result of the April 7 Cheektowaga school fire. The 15th victim was 11-year-old George Hoffman. The boy had suffered burns over most of his body when the blaze flashed through the one-story annex building.

“Meanwhile, the drive against temporary and old school structures gained momentum when 100 mothers signed a petition stating they would boycott Public School 12 annex in Buffalo next fall. The common council heard protests of the mothers over the old building.

“Some of the experts disagreed on exactly what caused the wooden Cheektowaga stricture to flare up so rapidly, but evidence points to a defective furnace as a main cause.

“In nearby Lancaster, the Transit School was closed for the remainder of the week due to a possible leak in the gas furnace. About 350 children were affected.” (Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “15th Child is Dead of Burns.” 4-8-1954, p. 1.)

Sources

Dunkirk Evening Observer, Dunkirk-Fredonia, NY. “9 Reported Dead in School Fire at Cheektowaga.” 3-31-1954, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=130398982&sterm=cheektowaga

Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “15th Child is Dead of Burns.” 4-8-1954, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=128926868&sterm=cheektowaga

Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “Blast Experts May Know Cause of Fire.” 4-2-1954, p. 2. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=128926823&sterm=cheektowaga

Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “School Fire Jury Being Impaneled.” 4-5-1954, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=130399019&sterm=cheektowaga

Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “School Fire Toll Now 14.” 4-3-1954, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=130399012&sterm=cheektowaga

Dunkirk Evening Observer, NY. “Thorough Investigation into Tragic Cheektowaga School Case is Launched.” 4-1-1954, p. 1. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=

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

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

Ross, Joseph B. Jr. Arundel Burning: The Maryland Oyster Roast Fire of 1956. Baltimore, MD: Chesapeake Book Company, 2008.

Stevens, Richard E. “Flames Trap Fifteen in One-Story School.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 47, No. 4, Apr 1954, pp. 331-336.