The Triangle Fire of 1911, Part 2

with women and told the car to come right back; it came a second time. By that time flames had come through the rear windows and Harris told everyone to go to the roof. They went through the Greene Street stairway, which, as opposed to the Washington Place stairwell, ran from the basement to the roof. In the stairwell windows had been shattered and the fire was blowing in through the windows. They continued climbing as their clothing and hair began to burn. Once on the roof the group noticed the sizable height difference of their neighboring buildings. By 'good luck' their western neighbor was teaching a class when they saw the stranded workers and owners. They laid down ladders and the students helped the workers come across to safety. ¹⁶

At least eight wagons responded to the fire alarms all set off in the same 30 seconds. When the first ones reached the eighth floor at 4:47 PM, the room was entirely on fire and part of the ninth floor had already started to burn. From the ground the firemen saw workers filling the window of the ninth floor, then heard a cry and people started to jump. According to the Times, firemen had trouble bringing their trucks into position because of the fallen bodies on the pavement. The captain ordered a life net to be brought. People had tried every escape and had now decided they would rather fall than burn. Chief Worth ordered water to be sprayed back and forth in an effort to reassure the victims and prevent them from jumping. Initially the employees went to the windows for air and to see if help was there. The fire truck got near to the windows. The ladder rose toward the workers and then stopped 30 feet below them. That was the highest it could go. It was the tallest ladder in NY but it was of no use to the victims. The first man jumped at 4:50 PM. Firemen thought the nets would work but they only encouraged more jumpers. So many people dropped the nets didn't work. They broke the nets and tarps. At 4:53 PM the nets were abandoned. ¹⁷

Under the weight of the crowd and the heat from the windows the fire escape began to collapse. It was poorly designed and badly installed. In fact city officials had seen it in the blueprints and

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