60th Anniversary of Our Ladies of the Angels Fire-- Part 2

Continued from December 2.

The fire began in the school's basement between 2 and 2:20 p.m., shortly before the students would be dismissed for the day.  The basement housed cardboard trash barrels where students emptied classroom waste baskets into to be disposed of later by the janitor.

It was here in the basement at the foot of the stairway that the fire started.  And the really sad thing was that 30 minutes later the students would have been gone.

The fire quickly made its way through the school, filling the air with fire, smoke and heat.  The halls quickly filled with smoke and soon the second floor of the north wing of the school was cut off from easy access to the hallway, fire escape and stairway needed to exit the building.

The school was built in 1910 and included numerous additions and remodeling as the student population grew, leaving a winding building of many wings, bot something that would be effective in a fire.  Even though the school had been fire inspected a short time before the fire and it is reported that it passed inspection because of the age of the structure, it had been grandfathered in in and not required to meet the newer safety measures.

So Sad.