A Date To Remember

     December 30, 1903. Today is the 109th anniversary of an event which affects our everyday lives, and yet will pass without much fanfare, or will probably not be mentioned at all. It is the day that 602 people died in the "fireproof" Iroquois Theater in Chicago. Thebnewly opened theater was presenting a matinee preformance of the musical-comedy Mr Bluebeard starring Eddie Foy. The theater was celebrating its opening but was not quite finished, yet the show went on.
     A full house of patrons settled in as the show started. At the beginning of act II the performers on the stage behind Foy began to look up with worried looks. A painted backdrop hung in the rafters above the stage had hung up on a floodlight and had caught fire.  An in house fireman and a stagehand had emptied several fire extinguishers on the flaming canvas but it had not doused the flames. the fireman and worker fled as several more backdrops caught fire. Flaming bits of canvas began to rain down on the stage, and the preformers began to flee. Foy remained calm and asked the audience to remain seated, and he called for the asbestos curtain to be lowered. This would hold the fire on the stage and allow the audience to leave. Several people got up and left, followed by an increasing stream of patrons all heading for the lobby. The curtain, on wooden rollers, jammed half way down. Then a backdrop fell to the stage creating an inferno in front of the audience. The people who remained ran up the narrow aisles only to find that the lobby doors opened inward. They were quickly jammed shut by a press of panicked people  As the theater filled with toxic smoke, the screaming mass struggled to get out. In the overcrowded balcony, there was one exit. Most of the people jammed themselves in a narrow hallway which led to a locked door. Another exit to the outside led to a platform with no fire escape. Dozens escaped the fire only to fall or be pushed to their death in the alley several stories below.
      The preformers made their way to an exit back stage and made their way out. The open door created a backdraft, sending a fireball the length of the theater and into the balcony, killing who ever was left. There were 27 exits in the theater, but only 3 were available to the patrons. The rest were covered or locked. Most of them were unmarked. There was no firebox near the building which delayed the alarm approximately 13 minutes. The first engine company arrived in two minutes, but the damage and the dying, was done. They bfound a lobby full of dying people flooding down the grand staircase which led up to the narrow hallway up stairs. Fighting their way to the doors leading to the theater the firemen found them jammed shut. Hacking them open they found piled bodies over 6 feet high, and silence. Crawling over a pile of bodies, hoses were dragged into the theater and the fire was put out. As the flames were driven back, the full horror of the situation was realized. There were bodies everywhere. In the end 572 bodies were taken out of the building and the alley next door. Several more died in hospitals later making the final toll 602. Several dozen people survived but were horribly burned. Chicago mourned over the new years holiday. There were few celebrations and the church bells were not rung.
     So how does this horrid event affect us ? Lighted exit signs above every door. Doors that open outward in every public place. "Panic bars" that allow doors to be opened from the inside at anytime. Wide , and lit aisles..seats made of fire resistant materials, fire extinguishers, sprinklers, employees trained to assist in emergencies are just a  few of the changes that came out of the ashes of the Iroquois Theater. Changes that came too late for 602 unlucky theatergoers on a frosty December day in 1903.