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The fire started in a scrap bin on the eighth floor, where employees then notified the tenth floor switchboard; but the ninth floor never received warning. In just minutes, the entire factory was engulfed in flames. On the ninth floor, the owners had locked one of the two exit doors to prevent theft. A panicked rush of workers piled up by the other door, which opened inward, and would soon be blocked by a wall of flames. Some workers ran to the flimsy fire escape but it collapsed. The elevators ran as long as they could, but were made inoperable by the force of the working girls jumping down the shaft to avoid the fire; and by excessive heat from the flames, bending their tracks. The fire department arrived quickly, but their ladders could only reach the sixth floor. People on the street watched in horror, as the young garment workers leaped out the windows and through the firemen's nets. In the end, 146 people died; most of them women. They were predominantly eastern European Jewish, and southern Italian immigrants. The fire occurred during an era of rapidly expanding industrialization, an exploding immigrant population, and emerging unionization. It was a time of intense conflict on social and political fronts. This tragedy outraged the city and galvanized the labor movement. It instantly became a symbol of the struggle between workers and bosses; and the lack of human dignity, in the deplorable working conditions of the era. The industrial revolution had reached a crossroads, and the Triangle factory fire was now the catalyst that would blaze the path of reform. A day after the fire, folks gathered at churches and
synagogues to pray for the dead and comfort the living. In the week
following the tragedy, grass roots meetings were held throughout
the city by a variety of organizations, committees, associations,
charities and unions. On April 5th, approximately 100,000 people
participated in a funeral march for the unidentified dead; as 250,000
others watched the procession in silent solidarity. The Factory Investigating Commission was formed three months later, to study and make recommendations on working conditions. The findings of the commission would have far reaching impact on protective labor legislation and fire safety laws across the nation. In short, the Triangle fire was one of the most socially altering, monumental events in American history. As Frances Perkins, (who witnessed the Triangle fire, and became U.S. Secretary of Labor under FDR), once said, "the New Deal began in that terrible fire on March 25th, 1911."
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