Triangle Fire

The Triangle Fire was a disaster in New York City in which 146 garment workers died, most of them young women. The fire began late Saturday afternoon, Mar. 25, 1911, in a ten-story loft building. Feeding upon a careless accumulation of flammable rags and hazardously stored cleaning fluids, it quickly spread through the top three floors occupied by the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. About half of the nearly 1,000 employees were at their jobs, working overtime to fill orders that had piled up during a strike a few months earlier. The narrow, congested aisles and locked doors trapped many workers, preventing them from reaching the only fire escape, which was a single ladder on the roof that led down to a narrow rear court. Aroused citizens sponsored an investigation. At the investigators' urging, the state established a factory commission, whose work led to the enactment of a new, more effective industrial code and set the pattern for remedial factory legislation throughout the United States. In 2003, on the 92d anniversary of the fire, the building was made an official New York City landmark.

Information on AFL-CIO Web site.