WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 17, 2022 25
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
World Trade Center who saw people
take fatal plunges out of the burning
Twin Towers.
Although the nature of the attacks
on the World Trade Center left so
many victims hopelessly trapped,
many of those who died in the Triangle
Shirtwaist fi re had perished
needlessly — as the exits they tried to
use to get out of the burning building
had been locked from the outside.
It was one of many safety hazards
commonplace among American industry
at the time that would only be
remedied years later, spurred by the
outrage of New Yorkers and labor leaders
in the wake of the deadly inferno.
THE HORRIFIC TIMELINE
The Triangle Shirtwaist factory began
at around 4:45 p.m. on Saturday,
Mar. 26, 1911 inside the upper three
fl oors of the Asch Building at the
corner of Greene Street and Washington
Place in Greenwich Village.
Inside, 500 workers — mostly teenage,
immigrant girls — were hastily preparing
shirtwaists (blouses) to meet
their daily quota before the close of
business.
The actual cause of the fi re remains
remains unknown to this day, but it is
believed that someone on the eighth
fl oor dropped a match or a smoldering
cigarette into a pile of fabric
scraps.
Seconds later, the fi re quickly engulfed
the fl oor and quickly grew out
of control aft er spreading to the many
piles of cloth that lined the factory.
Quickly, fl ames engulfed the ninth
and 10th fl oors.
Many workers tried to fl ee from
the burning factory stairwells, but
were unable to as the exits had been
locked from the outside by the factory
owners. Others inside the 10th fl oor of
the Asch Building managed to reach
the rooft op and ran to safety on the
adjoining roof of New York University.
Fire Department units, some with
Vincent Maltese (at far right) was the recipient of a lifetime dedicated service award presented to him by his
brother Serphin Maltese (second from right) during the centennial memorial ceremony in 2011 at Christ the
King High School in Middle Village. Also pictured are (from left to right) masters of ceremony Anthony Como
and Gabriella Sfera, along with Andrew Maltese. File photo /Ridgewood Times
vehicles and others by horse and
buggy, rushed to the scene. Workers
inside the building did their part to
try to extinguish the fl ames, but the
inferno moved and expanded too fast
to keep up.
To make matters worse, the water
pressure in the fi re hoses they used
was incapable of quenching the
fl ames.
THE JUMPERS
The fi re proved to be a futile task
for the FDNY as well. Even though
the department had the most modern
fi refi ghting equipment of its time, its
tallest ladder reached its limit two
stories shy of the eighth fl oor.
Scores of the trapped workers
died from smoke inhalation or were
burned to death. About 20 women did
manage to escape through a rickety
fi re escape on the eighth fl oor, but
others died when the fi re escape —
later found to have had rusty metal
supports — failed, sending them
plunging to their deaths.
With the last means of egress gone
and the intense fl ames continuing to
consume their factory, those stuck
inside the burning building ran for
the windows, desperate for air. They
were faced with a grim decision — either
burn or suff ocate from the blaze,
or to avoid the suff ering by leaping
out of the buildings.
Either way, they were doomed to
perish.
Seconds later, bodies of the young
female workers began falling from
the upper floors of the Triangle
Shirtwaist factory. Crowds of onlookers
gathered near the factory and
helplessly watched one worker aft er
another take fatal plunges; some of the
workers were observed leaping handin
hand in groups of three or four.
Among the eyewitnesses to the
horror was Frances Perkins, who
would later become the fi rst female
Cabinet member, serving as Secretary
of Labor for President Franklin
D. Roosevelt.
“The nets were broken,” she wrote
in her journal. “The fi remen kept
shouting for them not to jump, but
they had no choice; the fl ames were
right behind them, for by this time,
the fi re was far gone.”
The horror fi nally ended at around
5:15 p.m. when the last body fell from
the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.
In just 45 minutes, 146 people had
lost their lives in the inferno considered
to be the worst industrial
disaster in the city’s history.
Some fi refi ghters inspecting the
damage aft erward found numerous
corpses inside the factory charred
beyond recognition.
A CITY MOURNED
All but seven of the dead workers
were eventually identified by relatives
through a temporary morgue set
up near the East River. Those whose
remains were not identifi ed were given
a proper burial at a mass funeral held
on April 5, 1911, in which hundreds of
thousands of New Yorkers — moved
by the sorrowful event — participated.
Prior to the tragic inferno, labor
organizers tried to raise awareness
about the factory’s working conditions.
Though four small fi res had
occurred at the site in the previous
year, Triangle’s owners — Isaac
Harris and Max Blanck — failed to
improve working conditions. They
had claimed that the building was
technically “fi reproof” under existing
codes.
Both Harris and Blanck were eventually
put on trial on manslaughter
charges for the deadly blaze, but
were ultimately acquitted. In the end,
prosecutors were unable to prove
that they knew that the exit doors to
the factory had been locked.
Despite the horror of the Triangle
Shirtwaist fire, the tragic event
helped galvanize the labor movement
in New York City, helping to
bring about political change and new
rules improving worker safety in all
industries.
Sources include the March 31, 2011,
issue of the Ridgewood Times, The Villager
and “New York: An Illustrated
History,” by Ric Burns, James Sanders
and Lisa Ades (expanded edition, 2003,
Alfred A. Knopf). It is the companion
work of Burns’ PBS series, “New York:
A Documentary Film.”
Labor rights protesters marched in memory of the Triangle Shirtwaist
factory victims in 2011 and successfully lobbied government for greater
worker protections. Photo via The Villager
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/WWW.QNS.COM
