Whipped Cream Difficulties

Cocoanut Grove was the worst nightclub fire and the second-worst single building fire in US history.

Those of you who didn’t obsessively read the “disasters” section of the almanac are probably asking: what was the worst?

The Iroquois Theatre was located at 24–28 West Randolph Street, between State Street and Dearborn Street, in Chicago, Illinois. The syndicate that bankrolled its construction chose the location specifically to attract women on day trips from out of town who, it was thought, would be more comfortable attending a theater near the police-patrolled Loop shopping district. The theater opened on November 23, 1903, after numerous delays due to labor unrest and, according to one writer, the unexplained inability of architect Benjamin Marshall to complete required drawings on time. Upon opening the theater was lauded by drama critics; Walter K. Hill wrote in the New York Clipper (a predecessor of Variety) that the Iroquois was “the most beautiful … in Chicago, and competent judges state that few theaters in America can rival its architectural perfections …”

It was advertised as being “absolutely fireproof”. I get the impression that “theatre” in those days was pretty much a synonym for “firetrap”.

An editor of Fireproof Magazine toured the building during construction and noted “the absence of an intake, or stage draft shaft; the exposed reinforcement of the (proscenium) arch; the presence of wood trim on everything and the inadequate provision of exits.” A Chicago Fire Department captain who made an unofficial tour of the theater days before the official opening noted that there were no sprinklers, alarms, telephones, or water connections. The captain pointed out the deficiencies to the theater’s fire warden but was told that nothing could be done, as the fire warden would simply be dismissed if he brought the matter up with the syndicate which owned the theatre. When the captain reported the matter to his commanding officer, he was again told that nothing could be done, as the theater already had a fire warden.

The video I am about to present also suggests that some of the building inspectors may have been bribed. (I know: bribes in Chicago? Who’d thunk it?)

Anyway, you probably see what’s coming. But you may not know how bad it was.

The official death toll, according to Wikipedia, was “at least 602 deaths”.

Bonus #1 and #2: a two-part documentary from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) about the MGM Grand Hotel fire of November 21, 1980.

This is a historically interesting fire. The cause of the fire was determined to be an improperly installed refrigerated display case. The copper refrigerant lines ran through the same wall and were in contact with an aluminum electrical conduit. A combination of compressor vibration and galvanic corrosion wore through the conduit and wiring, eventually causing electrical arcing and a smouldering fire. The fire eventually got large enough to become visible: one of the hotel employees sounded an alarm, but then things got really bad.

The fire spread to the lobby, fed by wallpaper, PVC piping, glue, and plastic mirrors, racing west through the casino floor at a speed of 15–19 ft/s (4.6–5.8 m/s; 10–13 mph; 16–21 km/h) until a massive fireball blew out the main entrance along the Las Vegas Strip. From the time the fire was noticed, it took six minutes for the entire building to be fully engulfed. It spread across the areas of the casino in which no fire sprinklers were installed. Eighteen people died in the casino level of the hotel.

A total of 85 people died. 61 of them were on upper levels of the hotel. They were away from the fire, but toxic gasses given off by the burning material were sucked into the air-conditioning system, stairwells, and seismic joints, killing them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2020 at 2:00 pm and is filed under History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.