— 95 Chicago Sun Times. “Blaze Was Deadliest in 10 Yrs., December 10, 1991.
— 95 Collins. Tragedies of American History. 2003.
— 95 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 334.
— 95 Cowan. To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fire. 1998.
— 95 D’Alessio/AP. “1958 Chicago school fire’s effects linger.” The Eagle, Bryan TX, 2-7-2009.
— 95 Groves 2006, Our Lady.
— 95 National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.
— 95 National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. 1983, p. 137.
— 95 Our Lady of the Angels Fire Memorial. “OLA School Fire, December 1, 1958.”
— 93 Babcock, NFPA. 1959.
— 93 Country Beautiful Editors. Great Fires of America. 1973, p. 134.
— 93 History.com, This Day in History, Disaster, December 1, 1958.
Narrative Information
Groves: “During the 1950s, the Our Lady of the Angels parish was one of the largest in the Chicago archdiocese. In addition to serving more than 4,500 families, the parish operated a school for more than 1,600 students, kindergarten through eighth-grade.”
“On December 1, 1958, a fire started in a trash pile in the school basement and burned unnoticed for at least twenty minutes. When the heat broke a basement window, fresh air blasted the fire up a wooden stairwell as if in a chimney. The fire blew past the stairwell’s first floor fire doors, but rushed into the unprotected second floor hallway, spreading smoke and gases throughout the floor and trapping students and teachers in their classrooms.” (Groves 2006, Our Lady.)
OLA Fire Memorial: “The school was a two story structure built in 1910 but remodeled and added to numerous times in the intervening years. While legally in compliance with the fire safety laws of the time, the school was woefully unprepared for any kind of fire. There was only one fire escape, no sprinklers, no automatic fire alarm, no smoke or heat detectors, no alarm connected to the fire department, no fire-resistant stairwells and no fire-safe doors from the stairwells to the second floor. While the building’s exterior was brick, the interior was made almost entirely of combustibles – stairs, walls, floors, doors and roof – all wood. The floors had been coated and re-coated many times with flammable petroleum based waxes. There were NO fire alarm switches in the north wing, and only two in the entire school, both located in the south wing. While there were four fire extinguishers in the north wing, they were mounted 7 feet off the floor, out of reach for many adults and virtually all of the children. The single fire escape was near one end of the north wing but to reach it required passing through the main corridor, which became filled with suffocating smoke and superheated gases. With its 12-foot ceilings, the school’s second floor windows were a daunting 25 feet from the ground, should someone decide to jump. Thus, the scenario for a tragedy was set.” (OLA Fire Memorial web site.)
OLA Fire Memorial: “As the fire was climbing (consuming) the stairway, a pipe chase running from the basement to the cockloft above the second floor false ceiling gave the superheated gases a direct route to the attic, where the temperature rapidly rose higher and higher until it finally reached ignition temperature. Almost as though planning a coordinated attack, the fire swept through the halls of the second floor in the north wing of the school, and flashed through the cockloft above the classrooms. By the time the students and their teachers in the second floor classrooms realized there was a fire, their sole escape route (the center hallway) was all but impassable. For 329 children and 5 teaching nuns, the only remaining means of escape was to jump from their second floor windows to the concrete and crushed rock 25 feet below, or to pray for the fire department to arrive and rescue them before it was too late. Recognizing the trap they were in, some of the nuns encouraged the children to sit at their desks or gather in a semi-circle and pray. And they did – until the smoke, heat and flames forced them to the windows. But there were no firemen to rescue them. Some began jumping – others fell or were pushed.” (OLA Fire Memorial web site.)
Groves: “More than 200 firefighters, from 22 engine companies, seven ladder companies, and ten squad companies, responded to the Our Lady of the Angels School fire. Firefighting efforts were delayed, however, when the Chicago Fire Department was first sent to the wrong address and then later had to use a ladder as a battering ram to break through a locked, eight-foot iron fence on the school’s property. These delays, combined with the “fire-friendly” atmosphere inside the school, severely limited their rescue options. The heat and smoke overwhelmed the firefighters when they attempted to use the stairs to reach the second floor, leaving the classroom windows as the only means of escape.” (Groves 2006, Our Lady)
OLA Fire Memorial: “Finally, firefighters arrived and began rescuing children from the second floor windows, but the hellish conditions in some of the classrooms had become unbearable, and children were stumbling, crawling, clawing and fighting their way to the windows, trying to breathe and escape. Many jumped, fell or were pushed out before firefighters could get to them. Some were killed in the fall, and scores more were injured. Many of the smaller children were trapped behind the frantic crowds at the windows, blocking any chance to escape through a window. Many of the little ones who managed to secure a spot at a window were then unable to climb over the three-foot-high window sills, or were pulled back by others frantically trying to scramble their way out. Helplessly, firefighters watched in horror as classrooms still filled with frightened children exploded in flames, instantly killing those who remained.” (OLA Fire Mem.)
Groves: “In fact, one firefighter was on a ladder outside a window when he noticed that the white shirts on the students trapped inside were turning brown. In the few seconds before the room reached flashover, the firefighter saved the lives of ten students by dragging them through the window and dropping them 25 feet to the ground. While firefighters rescued many of the trapped students and teachers, the fire was too powerful for their efforts to be completely successful. In the end, of the estimated 340 students and teachers initially trapped on the second floor, 95 perished in the fire. Some of the victims were completely untouched by flames; the noxious gases had simply been too suffocating.” (Groves 2006, Our Lady)
Lurvey/UPI: “Chicago (UPI) — A sobbing nun who led fear-petrified children out clutching her skirt, then rolled them down the stairs. A father who stood below a window and begged his son to jump into his arms. The boy couldn’t do it. A little girl who didn’t want to stay home from school with just a cold. Her mother finally let her go back at mid-day. An old man with a bad heart trying to catch children plummeting down into his arms, their hair and clothing afire.
“Those were some of the horrifying vignettes in the heartbreaking tragedy of the fire at Our Lady of Angels school. The nun was teaching a geography class when she heard the fire bell. She opened a door leading into the hall and smoke billowed in. ‘The children began to cry,’ she said. ‘I told them to get down on their knees and to crawl out through the door one after another. I crawled out first and the first ones held onto my skirt. But they were afraid to go down the stairs. I carried down 6 and went back for more. A couple wouldn’t go down and I rolled them down the stairs. I rolled them down even though they screamed.’
“Max Spachura lives just across an alley from the school. Two of his children go there. He was one of the first to run to the burning building. There, face pressed against a window on the second floor, was his son, Mark. ‘Jump! Jump, Mark,’ he shouted. ‘I’ll catch you.’ Someone broke the window with a book. Twelve children jumped. Spachura caught several of them, helped break the fall of others. ‘Now you, Mark,’ Spachura pled. The boy stood frozen. Smoke blotted him from sight. Later, he was found, dead.
“Ed Klock, 74, in retirement with a bad heart, saw the flames from his back porch. He ran to the building. One girl’s hair was afire. He used his coat to smother the flames. Then he ran from corner to corner, trying to help fallen children. A short time later, he suffered a stroke and was taken to a hospital.” (Lurvey, Ira/UPI. “Smok4er Suspected in Fire. Margaret Pled To Go To School.” 12-2-1958, p. 1.)
D’Alessio/AP, 2009: “Seven-year-old Dan Taglia heard the fire alarm bell from his classroom on Dec. 1, 1958, but hoped it was a signal that students were getting ice cream. It was too late in the day for a fire drill, and anyway the nuns wouldn’t send the children out coatless on such a cold day…. On the first floor at Our Lady of the Angels School, where Mary Ellen Hobik was taking an English test, the nun in charge of her fourth-grade class dismissed the alarm as a mistake…. But the alarm was real, and fire and toxic smoke engulfed the elementary and middle school on Chicago’s West Side with terrifying swiftness…. By the time the alarm rang, heat already was shattering the glass transoms over classroom doors, letting in a deadly mixture of smoke and gas. The fire had invaded the attic space above the second-floor rooms, dropping burning ceiling tiles onto the students below…. Smoke and superheated air made the second-floor hallways impassable and for many the only escape was through the windows — 25 feet above the paved school yard. Horrified neighbors came running with ladders, but they were too short….
“Three nuns and 92 students died. Some burned to death. Others died of smoke inhalation or were trampled. Still others died when they jumped or were pushed or thrown from windows….” (D’Alessio 2009)
History.com: “A fire at a grade school in Chicago kills 90 students on this day in 1958. The Our Lady of Angels School was operated by the Sisters of Charity in Chicago. In 1958, there were well over 1,200 students enrolled at the school, which occupied a large, old building. Unfortunately, little in the way of fire prevention was done before December 1958. The building did not have any sprinklers and no regular preparatory drills were conducted. When a small fire broke out in a pile of trash in the basement, it led to disaster.
“The fire probably began about 2:30 p.m. and, within minutes, teachers on the first floor smelled it. These teachers led their classes outside, but did not sound a general alarm. The school’s janitor discovered the fire at 2:42 and shouted for the alarm to be rung. However, he was either not heard or the alarm system did not operate properly, and the students in classrooms on the second floor were completely unaware of the rapidly spreading flames beneath them.
“It took only a few more minutes for the fire to reach the second floor. Panic ensued. Some students jumped out windows to escape. Although firefighters who were arriving on the scene tried to catch them, some were injured. Firefighters also tried to get ladders up to the windows. One quick-thinking nun had her students crawl under the smoke and roll down the stairs, where they were rescued. Other classes remained in their rooms, praying for help.
“When the fire was finally extinguished several hours later, the authorities found that 90 students and 3 nuns had been killed in the fire.” (History.com, This Day in History, Disaster, Dec 1,1958)
OLA Fire Memorial: “Eighty-seven children and three nuns died on December 1, 1958 as a result of the Our Lady of the Angels fire. Three more critically injured children died before Christmas followed by two more in 1959, the last one on August 9. In the end, 92 children and 3 nuns perished, bring the ghastly death toll to a staggering 95.” (OLA Fire Memorial web site.)
D’Alessio: The disaster “…brought about an almost immediate reform of school building and safety codes in Chicago and around the nation.” (D’Alessio 2009)
Groves: “Investigations after the fire determined that the school’s fire protection system was inadequate. The school lacked fire sprinklers and detectors, the stairwells only had first-floor fire doors, and there was only one fire escape. Moreover, the school’s interior primarily contained highly combustible materials. As a result, many of the national fire codes governing schools were drastically overhauled. The National Fire Protection Association rewrote its provisions for schools, revising the exit standards and also requiring that schools be outfitted with sprinklers. Stricter codes were also enacted regarding the quality of building materials with concrete soon replacing wood and plaster in schools throughout the country. In fact, NFPA credits the lessons learned from the Our Lady of the Angels School Fire with saving the lives of countless children, noting that no school fire since 1958 has killed more than ten people.” (Groves 2006, Our Lady)
? “Proper fire protection is NOT a luxury – IT IS A NECESSITY. It is just as important to a school as having a heating plant or proper desks. School officials have a moral responsibility to return the pupil safely to his home — education is not their sole function. To get proper fire protection, all that is needed is (a) the desire to have it, (b) money and (c) time. These recommendations are based primarily on safety to life, with property preservation of only secondary significance.” (Cook County Coroner’s Jury. “Findings of the Cook County Coroner’s Jury.” Reproduced in Our Lady of the Angels (OLA) School Fire, December 1, 1958.)
Sources
Babcock, Chester I. “The Chicago School Fire.” The Quarterly, National Fire Protection Association, January 1959. http://www.nfpa.org/assets/files/PDF/Research/LadyOfAngels.pdf
Chicago Sun-Times. “Blaze was Deadliest in 10 Yrs.” 12-10-1991. Abstract accessed 9-22-2017 at: https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4086369.html
Collins, Ace. Tragedies of American History – Thirteen Stories of Human Error and Natural Disaster. New York: Plume Books, 2003.
Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.
Country Beautiful Editors. Great Fires of America. Waukesha, WI: Country Beautiful, 1973
Cowan, David. To Sleep with the Angels: The Story of a Fire. Ivan R. Dee, 1998, 312 pages.
D’Alessio, F. N. (Associated Press). “1958 Chicago school fire’s effects linger.” The Eagle, Bryan TX, 2-7-2009. Accessed 6-5-2020 at: https://www.theeagle.com/news/national/1958-chicago-school-fires-effects-linger/article_f75f3b4b-f2e6-5813-8f21-402d80273982.html
Groves, Adam. “Our Lady of the Angels School Fire, Chicago: December 1, 1958.” Ideals, Illinois Fire Service Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 2006. Accessed 9-22-2017 at: https://www.ideals.uiuc.edu/handle/2142/90
History.com. This Day in History, Disaster, December 1, 1958. “Students Die in Chicago School Fire.” Accessed 11-25-2008 at: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&displayDate=11/31&categoryId=disaster
Lurvey, Ira/UPI. “Smok4er Suspected in Fire. Margaret Pled To Go To School.” Cedar Rapids Gazette, IA. 12-2-1958, p. 1. Accessed 6-5-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/cedar-rapids-gazette-dec-02-1958-p-1/
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.
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
Our Lady of the Angels Fire Memorial. “OLA School Fire, December 1, 1958.” Accessed 9-22-2017 at: http://www.olafire.com/
Our Lady of the Angels Fire Memorial. “OLA School Fire, December 1, 1958.” Findings of the Cook County Coroner’s Jury. Accessed 9-22-2017 at: http://www.olafire.com/coroner.asp
